Mount Arie (Mount Ararat) Missionary Baptist Church

Bartlett was a small farming community in 1898. Black American laborers arrived each fall for the cotton harvest. Thomas Sanders and Nelson Secret and their families called the Reverend F. E. Garrett of Temple to help them establish Mount Arie Missionary Baptist Church in June 1898. Among the first families of the church were those of the Reverend W. M. Muckleroy, Wallace Dotray and C. A. Harris. The small congregation originally met on the Bell County side of Bartlett, but in 1910 had grown enough to prompt a move to Brook Street in Williamson County. The years 1921 and 1933 were lean ones. The church building was moved to Bowie Street in 1953 because of unstable land on its Brook Street site. The structure was modernized in the 1960s and 1970s. Membership increased dramatically, and the congregation began to integrate after 1977. The eighth decade of the church's history brought new developments. The congregation moved into a new brick facility in 1980, the same year the church name was changed to Mount Ararat Missionary Baptist Church after it was discovered that Mount Arie was an abbreviation for the name of the mountain on which Noah's Ark landed as depicted in the Old Testament. The Mount Ararat Missionary Baptist Church celebrated its centennial in June 1998. The congregation supports widespread missionary and outreach programs. The membership and its diversity continue to increase as the congregation carries on in the traditions of its founders. (1999)

Mount Arie (Mount Ararat) Missionary Baptist Church is a historical marker in Bartlett, Williamson County, dedicated in 1999. It is one of 241 historical markers documented in Williamson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 448 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.7930, -97.4360 near Bartlett. The nearest cataloged historic site is Site of Bartlett Colored School (historical marker), about 0.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include First Presbyterian Church of Bartlett, First United Methodist Church of Bartlett, and First National Bank of Bartlett.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5491012304. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.