First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church. . , The First Baptist Church has served Burleson residents since 1884, shortly after the town was founded. In 1881, the town organized when the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (MKT) Railroad arrived. By 1882, the town had a post office and several businesses and residences. Settlers soon began to worship at the schoolhouse, but moved later to a store and then to a hotel. The First Baptist Church was organized at the hotel in 1884. Dr. R. C. Burleson, an educator, Baptist minister and later president of Baylor University, and the man for whom the community was named, moderated the organizational meeting. Twenty-six women and twelve men presented letters from their former churches, declared themselves in fellowship with one another, and became charter members of the Baptist Church of Burleson. The church began to meet monthly under the leadership of the Reverend D. I. Smith. Grenville M. Dodge, a railroad financier and speculator, donated the church site, and a church structure was constructed by 1885. A new building that could be used by other denominations when not in use by the Baptists was constructed in 1895. In 1907, Rev. A. E. Boyd became the church's first full-time minister, and additional buildings were added beginning in 1917., The First Baptist Church has had a long and dedicated focus on mission work. In 1940, members opened an African American church north of Burleson. Additionally, two pastors became foreign missionaries, serving in the Philippines and in Colombia. Other community programs begun by the church include a bus ministry to provide transportation to church services, a day care center and the Christian Counseling Center.