Lonesome Dove Baptist Church and Cemetery

In 1844 a large group of people left Platt County, Missouri to make a new life for themselves in the Republic of Texas. This particular group of pioneers settled in the Crosstimbers area, now the Grapevine-Southlake vicinity. The trail was dangerous and hard. There were flooded streams, Indians, and other hazards which caused many to turn back. However, the one who persevered came to settle in this area and carve a civilization out of the wilderness. The pioneers began to meet in different homes for worship. Others were coming to settle in the area, many from Missouri. Soon there were enough for the founding of a church. On the third Saturday of February, 1846, the band met at the log cabin home of Charles Throop. There they formed the Lonesome Dove Baptist Church. At the time of its founding there were no other churches within many miles, and no other evangelical church between the Dove and the Pacific Ocean. People began to meet at the Lonesome Dove Church, many walking for many miles. Because of the dangers of the frontier they brought their guns for protection.
 
The names of the charter members were:

• John A. Freeman, moderator
• Hall Medlin, clerk
• Nancy (Harris) Freeman
• Mary (Medlin) Anderson
• Susanah (Medlin) Foster
• Lucinda (Foster) Throop
• Mary Ann (Foster) Leonard
• Felix Mullikan
• Rachel (Foster) Mullikan
• Henry Suggs
• Saleta (Foster) Suggs
• Henry Atkinson

The next day, Sunday, the church had ten new members, and by the end of 1846, there were 40 members. The same week the church was organized the flag of the Republic of Texas was taken down from the capital in Austin, and Texas officially became the twenty-eighth state in the Union. For a time the church met in what is now Grapevine. Then in the fall of 1847 a building was erected at the present site. Some time later this building was replaced with another. The second building burned in March of 1930. A building of the same dimensions and on the same ground was built which now serves as the church youth building. For the past 160 years, Lonesome Dove continues to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.