The Center Point Baptist Church was the center of this small African-American community, a former Freedmen's town in Camp County TX.
The Center Point Baptist Church is located along the Camp County Road 2057 near its junction with Camp CR 4244 southeast of Pittsburg TX.
The church was organized in 1873 by former slaves who had been freed after the Civil War.
The day Blasterz visited (02 Mar 2019) we thought that the steeple is original to the first church building, and that the brick facade of the church was modern, and probably was placed over the original building. The cornerstone confirms our suspicion:
"CENTER POINT BAPTIST CHURCH
Organized in the late 1800s
Bricked in 1983 and 1984"
Eventually Center Point would become a center for African-American vocational training and education in the "Jim Crow" era, serving local and boarding students from far away who learned a variety of trades and skills at an expansive campus. The Center Point School was closed in 1950, but the church remains active as of 2019.
The state historic marker in front of the church reads as follows:
"CENTER POINT COMMUNITY
In 1865 black freedmen began this community. The Center Point Baptist Church was organized in 1873. The Industrial Union was chartered in 1889 to aid settlers in buying farms and building homes. A cooperative managed a brick kiln, sawmill and cotton gin. Under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Cash, the first principals, Center Point School became an important vocational facility. Students erected most of the structures on the 14-acre campus and there was a cooperative boarding plan. The school was consolidated with Pittsburg in 1950. (1979)"
Nearby stand the ruins and decaying buildings of the Center Point School. A state historic marker ion the school site reads as follows:
"CAMP COUNTY SCHOOL"
Center Point began as a Freedmen's community about 1865-70. The Willie Johnson family were the first settlers and were soon joined by other families. In 1899 G. W. Goulsby opened a one-room school, the first in the settlement; Pete Griffin was the first teacher. In 1916 a new five-room school was built. In later years campus additions, partly funded by the Julius Rosenwald Fund, included a teacherage, library, dormitories, cafeteria, and gymnasium. Students maintained a farm and garden and operated a cannery. Center Point School was closed in 1952. (1996)"
From the Handbook of Texas online: (
visit link)
"CENTER POINT, TEXAS (Camp County). Center Point is just off Farm Road 2057 nine miles southeast of Pittsburg in southeastern Camp County. The site was originally settled by former slaves, beginning shortly after their emancipation in 1865. Because the major roads through the area crossed at the center of the community, the settlement came to be known as Center Point. Settlers in the area had established a church by 1873 and a school by 1889. These were the focus of the dispersed rural settlement. By 1897 the one-room, one-teacher school enrolled thirty-one black children. That year the school was listed in the county school superintendent's report as being in bad condition and worth only fifty dollars. The school term was 100 days.
In 1900 the residents of the community began a long and ultimately successful campaign to improve their school. By 1908 the school had two teachers, and bonds voted shortly thereafter financed a four-room school building in 1916. The General Education Board donated $1,700 for additional buildings, and Julius Rosenwald later made donations totaling $5,750, which were also used for buildings, including a library. By the 1935–36 school year the school had become in many respects one of the best schools in the county.
Its physical plant included four buildings with ten classrooms and was valued at $14,000. Nine of the ten teachers who taught in the Center Point school had at least B.A. degrees, and, despite the fact that black teachers were typically paid less than white teachers with the same education and experience, the average teacher's salary at Center Point was higher than that at any other Camp County school, white or black. The school term was 176 days, only one day shorter than the longest school term in the county. The school enrolled 279 students, 129 in high school. Many of the high school students came from other districts that did not offer the upper grades.
During the late 1930s the population of the area began to decline, at first because of the Great Depression and then in the 1940s and 1950s because of increased economic opportunities for blacks in urban areas. By 1938 the enrollment in Center Point High School had dropped to seventy-eight, and by 1955 the district had been consolidated with the Pittsburg Independent School District. The 1983 county highway map showed two churches, a cemetery, and a community center at the site. The population was forty-one in 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hollie Max Cummings, An Administrative Survey of the Schools of Camp County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1937). Artemesia L. B. Spencer, The Camp County Story (Fort Worth: Branch-Smith, 1974)."