You are here

Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » Central Texas » Prairie View to San Felipe » Independence (Washington County) » Independence Baptist Church

Independence Baptist Church

-A A +A
1872. FM 390 at TX 50
  • (Photograph by Gerald Moorhead )

This is the oldest continuously active Baptist church in the state; its congregation was formed in 1839. The current building replaced the first meetinghouse built of adobe in 1853 and that burned. General Sam Houston, the congregation's most famous member, was baptized in 1854 by R. C. Burleson in Rocky Creek two miles south of town. Other notable Texan congregants include George W. Baines, a Baptist clergyman and the maternal great-grandfather of President Lyndon Baines Johnson; Margaret Lea Houston, Sam Houston's wife; and her mother, Nancy. The church is a modest gable-roofed stone structure and still houses the pulpit furniture and pews associated with Sam Houston, salvaged during the 1853 fire. The adjacent Texas Baptist Museum houses the original 1856 bell.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Sam and Margaret Lea Houston House
General Jerome Bonaparte Robertson House
John Hoblett Seward Plantation

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Independence Baptist Church", [Brenham, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-PF13.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 81-81.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,