Independence

INDEPENDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH . Independence Baptist Church, in Independence, Washington County, was organized by Rev. Thomas Spraggins and a small group of fellow Baptists on August 31, 1839. Shortly thereafter a number of others joined by letter or baptism, bringing the total membership to fifteen for that year. The highest total membership for this church was 289 in 1870, the same year in which a gradual decline began upon the removal of Baylor University and Baylor Female college, which had been founded in Independence, to Waco.