| Marker Text |
Founded by formerly enslaved persons in the years following the Civil War, Minnehulla Baptist Church has served Goliad County for over one hundred years. After hearing a Baptist message in the area delivered by Isaac Smith, the Reverend Mitchell Harrison of DeWitt County led a group of residents to form a new church, including Almedia Beverly Swaizey, George Langley, Frank Wesley, Rebecca Spillman, Patsy Wesley, William Langley, Robert Gray, Charlie Shipman, and Preston Kay. The group named their new congregation Minnewee Baptist Church after the creek that ran some 600 feet away. The name was changed to Minnehulla Baptist Church around 1906.
Swaizey and her husband purchased and donated land for a church structure. There, members built a brush arbor under which to hold services. When the brush arbor blew down in a storm, members constructed a log cabin with a dirt floor and log seats. In 1929, the log cabin also succumbed to a storm. Under the leadership of the Rev. B.W. Whitfield, 1.37 acres were purchased from the G.W. Simmons estate, about .25 miles from the original site. A wood frame church was constructed. In the 1990s, the congregation purchased a total of 10.8 acres across Franklin Road from the original land and built a new sanctuary.
Minnehulla was a center of activity for community residents. Children attended Baptist training union and participated in “sword drills” and holiday presentations. The church building hosted weddings, christenings, funerals, community meetings, and holiday and accomplishment celebrations, for which area churches across several denominations would come together. The church held week-long revivals culminating with baptisms. Minnehulla continues to provide hope and life to this rural community. (2023) |
