St. Stephen's Baptist Church

Mathew Hooks, born in Robertson County in 1867 to formerly enslaved parents, was driving a chuck wagon by age nine and became one of the first Black cowboys to work alongside White ranch hands. On the Pecos he became a top horsebreaker. After his Clarendon years he worked as a porter, for twenty years on the Santa Fe Railroad, then settled into civic work in Amarillo, where he ran the Dogie Club for Black boys and became the first Black person to serve on a Potter County grand jury. He sent over 500 white flowers honoring pioneers.

What the plaque says

St. Stephen's Baptist Church Following the relocation of Clarendon along the railroad in 1887, the African American population began to grow. By the 1890s, African Americans were searching for their own place of worship in the growing community. For a time, they gathered in private homes or met under a shade tree to read bible verses. While riding the combination train into Clarendon, a young African American cowboy, Matthew "Bones" Hooks (1867-1951), met Reverend Sid Stephens and persuaded him to help organize a church for the African American population. A location was found in an empty shelter in 1897 and Rev. Stephens gave the new church his name and stayed on as pastor. Bones Hooks also remained in Clarendon and helped build St. Stephens before he married and moved to Amarillo. Pastors included Rev. Stephens, Rev. L.G. Farley and Rev. A.G. Monagram. In May 1918, the church building was destroyed by a massive flood. However, under the leadership of Rev. Pickford, the congregation found a new location and in spite of declining membership, the church remained strong. In 1930, Rev. J.J. Hayden organized the first choir who sang at church services and performed for the public on special occasions. In the 1940s, a building was moved from Lelia Lake to Clarendon to be used by St. Stephens. During the next thirty years, the congregation held many fundraisers to support the church and celebrate its heritage. The old schoolhouse was purchased for the pastor's home and a baptistery was added to the church. As the first African American church in the panhandle, St. Stephens Baptist Church has survived for more than a century due to the determination of the congregation and community.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Donley County Courthouse — 0.4 mi
  Bulger and Rapp's red brick and white stone courthouse of 1891, the oldest in use in the Panhandle, given back its third floor and towers in a 2003 restoration.
• Saints' Roost Museum — 1.2 mi
  Clarendon's county museum in the hospital Cornelia Adair built for JA cowboys in 1910, named for the nickname cowhands gave a Methodist town with no saloons.
• Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch State Historic Site — 18 mi
  The two-story house the Goodnights moved into on December 27, 1887, after leaving the JA, with a porch that looks over bison descended from the calves Mary Ann saved.
• Phillips 66 Station, McLean — 26 mi
  A 1929 cottage-style Phillips 66 station on First Street in McLean, the town I-40 went around last and whose Route 66 business district stayed much as it was.

More markers nearby

• The Clarendon News — 0.3 mi
• Stockton P. Donley — 0.4 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Clarendon — 0.5 mi
• Funeral Business in Clarendon — 0.6 mi