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White Deer Land Museum

116 S. Cuyler

Pampa, TX 79065

Pampa's First Baptist Church organized in 1907

About two months after Pampa's First Methodist Church was organized on September 29, 1906, a group of eleven Baptists met for the purpose of organizing a Baptist church. The eleven people signed a roll but for some unknown reason the body did not prosper. The members became discouraged and talked of disbanding, but Dr. A.E. Barrett, one of the group, persuaded them to try to reorganize.

On April 6, 1907, twenty-two Baptists met with Rev. David Blanton of Amarillo as moderator. The group took two important actions: they constituted themselves "The First Baptist Church of Pampa, Texas;" and they proceeded to unite with the church, eleven by letter and eleven on promise of letter.

The charter members were Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Barrett, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Edgar, Mrs. M.S. Keahey, Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Sewell, Mr. and Mrs. C.S. Barrett, Mrs. E.V. Henry, Mrs. Alice Henry, Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Barrett, Mr. and Mrs. B.A. Davidson, Mr. and Mrs. Y.W. Payne, Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Roberts, Mrs. Mattie Williams, Mrs. Gertrude Talbott and Mr. W.R. Isbell.

After April 6, 1907, which is considered the organizational date for the second denominational church in Pampa, the church began to function. Services were held Sunday, April 7, 1907, at 11 a.m., and thereafter the church held regular preaching services, received and dismissed members and received tithes and offerings.

On September 8, 1907, the church called Rev. J. W. Whatley (not related to Herman and Calvin) as quartertime pastor. He preached his first sermon on that date and baptized Mrs. Elizabeth Sills, the first convert, in the lake at present Recreation Park.

The church continued to hold services one Sunday a month in the school building at 513 East Francis where the Union Church met. In 1908 the Baptists purchased some lots at the corner of Kingsmill and Russell (location of present Combs-Worley office building) for the future construction of a place of worship.

The church called Rev. Whatley to a half-time pastorate in 1909, and he preached every second and fourth Sunday of the month until he retired in 1912 when Pampa's population was about 910. Rev. J.W. Barker was called as pastor in 1913.

About June, 1913, the White Deer Land Company sold the schoolhouse where the First Baptist Church had been meeting since its organization, and the church had to find a new meeting place.  Members of the church voted to construct their own building on their own lots.  During the construction period the church met in the red brick schoolhouse at 309 North Cuyler.

One afternoon in the summer of 1913, five women met for the purpose of organizing a Women's Missionary Union. The women were Mrs. A.E. Barrett, Mrs. C.S. Barrett, Mrs. J.H. Boge, and one other woman whose name has been forgotten. The women found the schoolhouse doors locked, so they sat on the steps and organized their meeting, electing Mrs. A.E. Barrett as the first president.

At the time, the building at Kingsmill and Russell was being constructed, most of the church members lived on farms.  Although they had plenty to eat, they did not have much cash, so the women served dinners on election days and other special days.  They had food sales and bazaars, sold ice cream on Saturdays and did other things to make money to help pay for the new building.

The new structure, commonly referred to as the "stone church" because of its stone block construction, was dedicated September 12, 1915, with Rev. R.B. Morgan of Goodnight preaching the dedication service. A fund-raising service was held to help liquidate the debt, and it is remarkable that the entire amount of the indebtedness, $3,200, was pledged in one day. The membership of the church at that time was 120.

About this time Rev. J.W. Barker resigned as pastor, and Rev. William Park was called on March 15, 1916. He was the first minister called to a full-time pastorate and also the first called for an indefinite tenure. Previously a minister had been called for a term of only one year with this term being renewed or not.

Rev. Park resigned early in 1917, the year the United States declared war on Germany. Rev. C.E. Lancaster, who became pastor August 26, 1917, volunteered for service as a chaplin in the American Expeditionary Force in France, and the church was pastorless until he returned in June, 1919. The budget for 1919 was $2200.

Rev. Lancaster resigned December 1, 1920 and was succeeded in January 1921 by Rev. H.R. Whatley, father of Herman and Calvin. Sunday School attendance at that time was averaging around 200.

Rev. Whatley resigned in November, 1925. He was followed by Rev. Frank A. Tippen in 1926, Rev. D.H. Truhitte in 1927 and assistant pastor John Lee Harris in 1928.

By 1925 the membership numbered around 330 and the budget for that year was $4000. That was the year the No. 1 Smith well in Section 14, Block Y. Hutchinson County was completed and the resultant oil boom engulfed Pampa.

Within a span of five years from 1925 to 1930, the town's population increased from 1400 to about 10,470, an increase of 648% and the second highest rate of growth in the nation, being surpassed only by Borger's.

In 1927, the church began construction of a two-story tan brick bulding east of the stone church.  The upper floor was used for classrooms and the ground floor was occupied by G.C. Malone Funeral Home.

In 1929 a new house of worship at the corner of Kingsmill and West was completed. That building was destroyed by fire on December 23, 1973, and the present building was dedicated on October 31, 1976.

The county seat of Gray County was moved from Lefors to Pampa on March 26, 1928, and a temporary courthouse was set up in the basement of the stone church. An outside entrance to the basement was made on the Kingsmill side of the church building.

The stone church building was replaced in 1931.. by the present Combs in Worley office building. The tan brick educational building still remains where it was constructed and now houses Fraser Insurance Company and Charles A. Buzzard. The words "G. C. Malone Funeral Home-Ambulance Service" can still be seen on the outside west wall.

Some Pampans remember playing on the steps of the stone church while their parents were occupied inside the building. They especially remember the  Christ-observances.

Church members had met in homes to make bags of red net which were filled with fruit, nuts and other goodies.  They also packed boxes of clothing and other items to send to Buckner's Orphans home.

On the night of the observance, the Nativity story was enacted by members of the congregation --- the Wise Men wore bathrobes. Then Santa Claus appeared to distribute gifts and sacks of goodies which hung on a large and beautifully decorated tree in a corner of the auditorium.