Reeves County Churches
___________________________ Balmorhea Baptist* First Baptist Church Catholic Christ The King Catholic
Church _________________________________________ Pecos Baptist Calvery Baptist Church First Baptist Church Mount Zion Baptist Church North Temple Baptist Church West Park Baptist Church Catholic Saint Catherine Catholic
Church Santa Rosa Catholic Church Christian First Christian Church Church of Christ Church of Christ Church of Christ Church of Jesus Christ of LDS Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints Episcopal Saint Mark's Episcopal Church Lutheran Trinity Lutheran Church Methodist First United Methodist Church Non-Denominational Abundant Life Church Presbyterian First Presbyterian Church Seventh-Day Adventist Seventh-Day Adventist Church _____________________________________________ Saragosa Catholic Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic
Church _____________________________________________ Source: Church Directory of the United States - Texas ________________________________ *History of the First Baptist Church - Balmorhea The First Baptist Church of Balmorhea was established in March 1906 at Toyah Creek as Toyah Creek Baptist Church. It evolved into Balmorhea Baptist Church some years later, then finally after two votes, one in 1952 and one in 1963, it became The First Baptist Church. The Charter Members were: P. A. Humble, Mrs. P. A. Humble, J. V. Humble, N. Wilson, P. S. Mayfield, C. C. Kountze, Joe Humble, Earl Patterson, Willison Casson, Pattie Casson and Rev. C. A. Dickson. A record found many years after the founding stated there were 16 charter members, but the 11 listed above is all that can be accounted for. The original building was built before March 21, 1909 in the present location of the church. It was a 30 foot by 60 foot building constructed by volunteers from neighboring churches. It was described by a contemporary of the times as "the most elegant building in these parts. The building Committee of the Toyah Baptist Church: T. A. Odell, J. C. Jones, A. F. Odell, R. A. Humble, J. G. Ranier and Rev. C. A. Dickson. This list comes from the last page of the oldest record book the church has. There is an apparent error in the name R. A. Humble, because the corner stone lists P. A. Humble; also the list of charter members lists P. A. Humble instead of R. A. Humble. The original corner stone is now located In the bell structure in front of the present sanctuary. The church minutes of December 12, 1969 contains this paragraph, "At the dismantling of the old church building in June of 1963 the following information was found in the cornerstone: Building Committee of 1909 was J. C. Jones, A. F. Odell, J. C. Ranier, P. A. Humble, and the pastor, C. A. Dickson." The early pastors of the denominations of the 'frontier' were usually part time; they worked at an occupation, and pastored also. The Reeves County Record, published in Pecos, Texas, states on December 23, 1910: "The Board of El Paso Baptist Association met yesterday at the Baptist church (in Toyah). The following Missionaries were employed...... Rev. C. A. Dickson Balmorhea, Saragoso and other points." The meaning of this seems to be that not only were the pastors bi-vocational, they were also circuit riders. ___________________________________________________ This is from the book "A History of the First 78 Years of First Baptist Church Balmorhea, Texas. Complied by Rev. Monty Inman, Pastor April 1984. Thanks to Sue Toone of Saragosa, Texas for making this resource available. ______________________________________ Page undated March 9, 2004 |
