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Anglo settlement of this area began in the 1840s. The community of Whitehouse, which grew up around a white painted schoolhouse, began in the early 1850s. A church congregation, called New Hope Church of Christ, Baptist, was organized in September 1869 by Elders J. A. Kindle and W. G. Caperton and about twenty-five charter members. Early worship services were held once a month. In 1887 a plot of land was purchased by New Hope Baptist Church and a one-room sanctuary, nestled in a pine grove, was built by the congregation. After the railroad came through Whitehouse in the 1870s and a central business district began to grow, the church was relocated to the new townsite. A white frame building was erected in 1901, and the name was changed to Whitehouse Baptist Church. In 1923 the church was relocated once again, to a site on East Main Street. At that time it was also renamed First Baptist Church. A new church facility was erected in 1959, and continued growth led to the construction of the present sanctuary in 1980. A part of Smith County history for more than a century, the First |
