This deeply historic church is located down a country road north of Nacogdoches. The historic markers at this location are a testament to its place in history. Two of those markers are located underneath what used to be a large spreading Live Oak tree. Struck by lightning in the 1930s, this historic tree survived that severe injury only to be destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005
The 1936 gray granite historical marker reads as follows:
"First known as Union Church as several denominations joined here to worship as early as 1836.
Organized in 1838.
A small log church was completed that year on ten acres donated by Dr. John M. Sparks.
The present structure dates from 1852.
In its graveyard rest many of the leading Anglo-American settlers of Nacogdoches County.
Erected by the State of Texas
1936"
And a private marker, most likely erected by the congregation at some point later, reads:
“UNDER THIS TREE”
The first Baptist prayer meeting was organized in 1835, by Aunt Massey Sparks Millard.
Isaac Reed in 1835 preached the first Baptist sermon.
Isaac Reed and Elder R. G. Green organized the first Baptist Church in the state of Texas, the first Sunday in May 1838, the church known today as Old North Church.
The first Protestant school in Texas was taught in a one room log house in the shadows of the old oak tree.
Remember, God alone can make a tree.”
From the Handbook of Texas online" (
visit link)
OLD NORTH BAPTIST CHURCH. Old North Baptist Church, on U.S. Highway 59 four miles north of the city limits of Nacogdoches, is the oldest active missionary Baptist church in Texas. It was originally called Union Baptist Church because settlers from various religious denominations made up the first congregation. It was founded by Mrs. Massey Sparks Millard, who came to Texas in 1832 and settled north of Nacogdoches, near where the church now stands. She constantly prayed that a church would be established at the spot where she, some other women, and their children hid in a thicket during Indian and Mexican raids while the men tried to repel the raiders. Mrs. Willard arranged for Rev. Isaac Reed to preach to a small group of Americans at the springs just after the battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836. These people decided to build a place of worship and a one-room school. Liberty School House was built in October 1836 of red oak logs spliced together because they were too short and laid on a rock foundation. This building was used until 1852, when a frame building was constructed on the same foundation. In 1882 the building was remodeled and painted.
At a meeting at Liberty School House on Sunday, May 6, 1838, the church was officially organized when ministers Isaac Reed and Robert G. Green preached and invited people with church letters who wanted to constitute a church to come forward. John and Betsy Eaton, Charles Whitaker, Sarah Tipps, Mary Crain, Emily Knight, Ruth Anderson, and Anthony and Chancy, the last two slaves, came forward. Charles Whitaker was elected church clerk. Several people joined the church between May and September 1838, during a revival started by Rev. James L. Bryant, a teacher at Liberty School House. Twenty people were baptized at the church in June and July; these were the first Baptist baptisms in East Texas. Richard Sparks donated five acres of land in 1837 or 1838 at the springs where Old North Church was built. In 1843 the need for a general organization led to the formation of the Sabine Baptist Association at the church with five other churches participating. The organization was later dissolved. John M. Sparks, Richard's son, deeded and registered the land in the names of the trustees of the church on February 29, 1892. The Old North Church Cemetery, established in 1836 before the church was organized, is the oldest Protestant cemetery in Nacogdoches County. On the first Sunday of May 1923, the church began its first annual homecoming meeting; the centennial homecoming was held on May 1, 1938, and the sesquicentennial anniversary on May 1, 1988."
From the American Baptist Association: (
visit link)
"Old North Church Nacogdoches, TX
(Nacogdoches County)
Organized 1838
First effort made by Mrs. Massie Millard
Organized by Isaac Reed, assisted by R. G. Green
Current pastor Bob Little
The oldest Baptist church in Texas, to meet on a continuing basis, is believed to be the Old North (Union) Baptist Church, located in Nacogdoches, Texas. The church was the result of prayer meetings held by Mrs. Massie Millard. She put together a good number of people interested in invoking the name of God.
Isaac Reed organized the church in May, 1838, but Mrs. Millard died shortly before the date. J. M. Carroll states, "On Saturday before the first Lord's Day in May, 1838, Isaac Reed, assisted by Rev. R. G. Green, who had just arrived in Texas, organized the first church in East Texas, to be known in later years as a missionary Baptist Church. Nine members went into the organization — all from Tennessee except one from Missouri. Two of them were colored slaves."
Z. N. Morrell visited the young group and preached to them.
The church cooperates with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The church clerk, in an interview in 2006 with a journalist from that convention’s online paper stated that the church congregation was less than 20. A bi-vocational teacher, Gene Tomlin, served as the church’s pastor for 25 years until his death in 2005.
The size of the tree under which those early prayer meetings were held is unknown, but before its demise it was a very large tree. Damage to the tree about 1950 was corrected by a forestry student at Stephen F. Austin College trying an experiment never tried before. The tree stood until it fell down in the Category 1 winds of Hurricane Rita on Saturday morning, September 24, 2005. After the tree fell, experts from the forestry school determined that the tree was probably more that 500 years old. Thus it was likely that the tree was very large in 1838. Remnants of the tree could be seen as late as 2008, and some of its timber has been preserved for the creation of furnishings of other churches. A bowl was turned for Pete McGuire who pastored for two years until 2008.
There is a very large cemetery located adjacent to the church which contains the remains of settlers of the period of the 1840's to the present.
Compiled from History of the American Baptist Association and research done by Michael D. Thompson in 2008."