Grant to help fund preservation of Old First Baptist Church

The Old First Baptist Church of San Marcos — a significant part of the Dunbar Historic District and local landmark that was constructed in 1908 —  recently received a $10,000 grant from the Fondren Fund for Texas of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

The church received its status as a local landmark in 2018. During that same year, the church was granted $150,000 after winning the Partners in Preservation online contest. The recent grant will be used to come up with a preservation plan for the historic building. 

“We’re [Preservation Texas] focusing on African American historic resources and you know, have been aware of the church here in San Marcos for some time and we’re following up on the status of the 2018 grant that was awarded,” said Evan Thompson, executive director of Preservation Texas. 

Preservation Texas has engaged with Post Oak Preservation Solutions and Sparks Engineering Inc. to complete the planning project, which will include the preparation of forms to be submitted to the Texas Historical Commission and National Park Service to determine the building’s eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. 

“It’s a critical step to getting that stabilization project going,” Thompson said.

While the church has only recently received grants, preservation efforts started long before then. 

“In the late 1990s around 1997, we started what was called ‘Save Old First Baptist.’ That was the first effort to save the church,” said Elvin Holt, archivist at the Calaboose African American History Museum 

“For decades The Old First Baptist Church played a vital role in the life and culture of the African Americans in the Dunbar Neighborhood as well as in the lives of a broad range of other people in San Marcos and vicinity,” as previously published in the “A Journey Through Time, A Millennium Edition,” issue of the  Daily Record. “Erected in 1908 by the descendants of former slaves who organized the congregation in 1866, Old First Baptist is the oldest surviving public building in what was once the heart of African American Community in San Marcos.” 

Over time, the church has been used for a number of significant events. Before integration, it was used as a graduation ceremony venue for African-American graduates as well as a meeting place for the San Marcos chapter of the NAACP. 

The congregation was first established in 1866. The church saw its first renovations in 1927, then again in 1953 which saw more drastic architectural changes. 

The Old First Baptist Church is next door to the Ulysses Cephas House,  and across the street from the Naomi Cephas Wade House which along with the African American Home Economics Building, was recently voted to be preserved by the Hays County Commissioners Court. 

“The Dunbar Historic District is significant in the history of San Marcos,” Thompson said. “Buildings like the Home Economics Building and this church, they’re two of the institutional anchors in the community.”