Old First Baptist Church granted landmark status

The old First Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Drive cleared its last hurdle and achieved local historic landmark status Tuesday night.

Applause filled the room after the San Marcos City Council voted to approve landmark status for the church. The vote followed a staff presentation from planning chief Shannon Mattingly and a public hearing on the issue.

Mattingly said the church is considered a high priority for preservation. Her presentation highlighted the church’s importance to the community, especially the Dunbar neighborhood.

“The church served as both a religious and social center for the community,” she said.

During the public hearing, San Marcos residents spoke in favor of the attainment of historic landmark status.

“I fully am in support of this,” Roland Saucedo said. “I think a lot of our citizens are.”

Saucedo mentioned that local landmark status is likely to open up new avenues for grants and other funding to help with restoration efforts.

“It’s a great historical landmark,” he said.

Lisa Marie Coppoletta praised city staff for promoting the recent Partners in Preservation online contest in which the church restoration project won $150,000. Winners were determined by public vote.

“I want to compliment city staff, because they really got the whole town whipped up to a frenzy in a positive way,” she said.

Coppoletta also voiced support for the restoration of the old church and the improvement it will bring to the neighborhood’s appearance.

Kurt Waldhauser, who co-owns the church property with his wife, also spoke to council about his decision to seek support for restoring the 110-year-old church.

When he and his wife bought the property about a year and a half ago, he said, “I have to be really honest — at the time, my intention was to tear down the building and repurpose the materials.”

However, he had ties to several city council members, and when he asked them what they thought about his idea to tear the church down, Jane Hughson, Lisa Prewitt and Ed Mihalkanin told him the history of the church and how it was built to replace a church the Ku Klux Klan had burned down years before. The building on Martin Luther King Drive had also served as a venue for graduation ceremonies for the African-American high school before integration and as a gathering place for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

“At that point,” Waldhauser said, “I realized it would be an absolute abomination to even consider tearing this building down. And I feel so much gratitude for you, for your leadership, and for helping me to see that on that day over a year and a half ago.”

Waldhauser thanked the city for their support in renovating what he called an “historic structure that honors a community that has been underserved and under-recognized.”

He continued, “I feel like we’re well on our way to preserving the structure and turning it into something the entire community can celebrate.”

Members of council thanked Waldhauser for his willingness to restore the building instead of tear it down.

“This is like a gift to the community,” council member Melissa Derrick said.

Council approved the church’s landmark status 5-0, with Mayor John Thomaides and council member Scott Gregson absent.