Utopia Baptist Church

The church's mission at Vanderpool served a settlement ten miles up the Sabinal. The land there began as a Republic of Texas headright, and Henry Taylor, who came to own several thousand acres, gave or sold ground for a school, churches and a cemetery. The place was called Bugscuffle until a post office opened in 1886 under the name of the first postmaster, L. B. Vanderpool. Its Upper Sabinal Missionary Baptist Church of Christ, organized before 1888, reached forty members and disbanded in 1947. Twenty people lived there in 2000.

What the plaque says

Utopia Baptist Church The Utopia Missionary Baptist Church was organized before July 20, 1886. On that date the congregation petitioned the Rio Grande Baptist Association for membership. The first pastor of the Utopia Church was the Rev. Lawrence S. Cox. The nine charter members were Mrs. Margaret Bownds, Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Bownds, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Croft, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Jackson Sowell, and Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Reynolds. Nine new members were baptized that year. The Methodist congregation shared its facilities with the small Baptist congregation until a Baptist church was erected. The Baptists purchased land from Robert Kincheloe, one of Utopia's founding citizens, in 1892 and erected a building there in 1912. By 1915 the church had 150 regularly attending members. During the 1920s the church was renamed Utopia Baptist church. The congregation held revivals under a brush arbor until a tabernacle was constructed in 1928. In addition to its programs in Utopia, the church supported a small mission in nearby Vanderpool and was instrumental in the establishment of the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment. The church was represented by volunteers during the First and Second World Wars. Member Leslie Bownds was wounded in World War I and died on the journey home. Several young men and women of the church volunteered for service in World War II; Roy D. Tampke gave his life in that conflict. A new church building was dedicated in 1952, and the church thrived in the second half of the twentieth century. At the dawn of the 21st century, Utopia Baptist Church continues in the traditions of its founders with programs of worship and service. (2000)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Garner State Park — 13 mi
  The Frio River park that Uvalde County built with the Civilian Conservation Corps and named for its own vice president, where people have danced on the stone pavilion every summer since the 1940s.
• Real County Historical Museum — 16 mi
  A small county museum in Leakey, at the head of the Frio Canyon, with a log-cabin parlor, an 1880s horse-drawn hearse, a wool and mohair shearing machine and 1910s jail cells.

More markers nearby

• Utopia — steps away
• William Ware — 0.9 mi
• Waresville Cemetery — 1.4 mi
• Captain William Ware — 1.4 mi