First Baptist Church of Judson

In the 1870s the people of this community met in the Lawrenceville School for Christian worship services. Thirteen local Baptists organized their own church in 1883, continuing to meet in the school building. Founding member Georgia Whatley suggested the name Judson Missionary Baptist Church for a church she had attended in Lawrenceville, Alabama which was named in honor of Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), America's first foreign missionary. In 1886, the Judson Missionary Baptist Church began to support mission work.

Members began to plan for their own house of worship in 1891. Georgia and Hiram Whatley donated a plot of land, and the structure was erected in 1894. Baptismal services were conducted in the creek east of the church after the yearly summer revival had taken place. The baptisms later were held on a member's property and then at nearby Whitehurst Lake.

In the late 1890s H. A. Whatley gave one acre for a cemetery. Sunday School began in 1901, a ladies' auxiliary was formed in 1902, and the Baptist Young People's Union was organized at the Judson Church in 1924. A new church building was erected in 1935, and the church was able to hire its first full-time pastor in 1941. By 1900 Public School District No. 2, Gregg County, was known as Judson. In 1952, a U. S. Post Office opened in the community, taking the name Judson.

The membership, many of them descendants of the pioneers of this part of Gregg County, numbered more than 260 in 1998. The congregation continues to be active in mission work and in service to the community of Judson. (1998)

Incise on back: J. B. Baucum, Jr.; Mitchell Billingsley; B. M. Birdsong; Nellie Boyd; Louise Brelsford; E. T. & Martha Briley; Billy R. Cabbiness; Charles Davis; Dwayne Harris, Diane Hollis, Buck Jordan, Judson Lions Club; June Whatley Killingsworth; Jo Ann, Kethryn & Ray Landers; Kathryn McAfee; Thomas McAfee; Edwin McKnight; Jessie McKnight; Mattie Belle Reppond; Byron Roach; Sam Satterwhite; Judge Mickey Smith; Melvin Sparks; Larry Stokes; Harold Stone; Keith Stone; George Whatley; Robert Whatley; Wesley L. Whatley; Linda Whitehurst; Tommy Young.