Goliad, Goliad County
A group of twelve Baptists met under an oak tree one block west of the Goliad town square on this site in May 1849. The Rev. John Freeman Hillyer officiated at the meeting, during which the twelve organized the first Baptist church in the area. The charter members included the pastor's wife, Mary, and their children Ann and Hamilton B. Hillyer; Hillyer family slaves Jacob and Eliza; Pryor and Mary Lea; George Brightman and his daughter Emeline Russell; and William and Philania Crow. The group established membership in the Colorado Baptist Association by 1852. After fifty years of meeting in borrowed facilities, the congregation's first permanent home was erected in 1899. The First Baptist church of Goliad continues to serve the area. (1999)