Sand Flat Baptist Church - Grand Saline, TX
N 32° 37.597 W 095° 39.101
15S E 251214 N 3613000
The Sand Flat Baptist Church is located in the Sand Flat community, south of Grand Saline, at 4494 FM 857.
Waymark Code: WMVZ7F
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 06/14/2017
Views: 0
While the church does have a pretty good
website, there is no history or indication as to the building's age: It looks modern, but it could be hiding an older building underneath that brick. A Texas Historical Marker just across the road provides some history of the community, noting the church's establishment in 1901:
A settlement first grew in this area of Van Zandt County beginning in the 1850s, at the junction of the Dallas-Shreveport Road and the Crockett's Bluff Road. The community was first known as Chrestman, after John W. Chrestman, who purchased property in the area in 1850. The county was divided into school districts in 1854, and the area surrounding Chrestman was established as district number 3 and a school known as Chrestman School was established.
During the end of the nineteenth century the community gradually began to be called Sand Flat. In 1900, Jacob R. Gillentine submitted an application for a post office for Sand Flat; after submission, the application form was altered to read "Fulton," and that was the name approved for the community’s post office. Gillentine served as the first postmaster, but the post office only operated until 1905, and locally, the community retained the name of Sand Flat.
Sand Flat Baptist Church was organized in September 1901 by members of the Providence Baptist Church (five miles east) who desired a place of worship closer to their homes. Camp #2266 of the Woodmen of the World was chartered in 1907, and later that year the church and fraternal organization built a shared two-story building.
Businesses that developed in the small community included a blacksmith shop, grocery, a cotton gin, and a saw mill. Methodist and Church of Christ congregations were also organized. As with many small towns, the consolidation of schools and the population shift from rural to urban areas caused Sand Flat to gradually decline.