San Marcos, Hays County
In 1866 Rev. Moses Johns met with freedmen to organize the Colored Baptist Church Zion, San Marcos’ first African American congregation. In 1872 the church became a charter member of the Guadalupe Baptist Association. That same year, the Ku Klux Klan burned the church’s first sanctuary, located on Guadalupe St. where Tuttle Lumber Co. now stands. The church built a Victorian-style sanctuary on Comal (now MLK) Street in 1908 under Rev. G.F. Curry’s leadership. The name First Baptist Church NBC (National Baptist Convention) of San Marcos was adopted in the 1980s. In 1986 the congregation moved to its new Mitchell Street sanctuary where the congregation continues to serve.