HOMETOWN HISTORY: Devine, Texas 1909
By Nancy Ehlinger Saathoff – Devine Historical Committee
In the early 1900s, train travel on the railroad was a big deal in Devine! The Devine Depot was the “get-on and get-off” point for people visiting or leaving; and often times a group of family, friends, or business people would wait at the depot for them to arrive or take them to the depot and give them a “send-off” when they left. In early 1909, what the train brought to Devine was Reverand F.M. McConnell for a Revival for the Baptist Church!
Being a Christian community, visiting ministers were welcomed enthusiastically throughout our town! Rev. McConnell, assisted by evangelist singer H.L. Spark, were very busy during the several weeks that they were in Devine! They led revival prayer meetings in the mornings and the evenings, going from house to house, and in various parts of the town in the afternoon! Yes, they were very, very busy!
March 1909 Baptism at Coker Tank near Devine
Although there is not a lot of information about the Revival itself, it must have been a huge success because it resulted in a large number of people, young and old, being baptized in the local *Coker Tank (stocktank/pond). It was reported that 1000 to 1500 people, regardless of religious affiliation, attended and witnessed the baptism of 47 people! Thirteen others were baptized at a later date. Some of the last names of the people included Redus, Fullerton, Long, Evans, Williams, Slater, Goslin, and more. *Coker Tank was located on the Coker Farm “north” of Devine, which in 1909 was probably somewhere along what is now Coker Ave. That special day in March of 1909 was memorialized in history by a photographer, Mr. Martin, who photographed the group at the baptism. (photo shown).
Rev. McConnell (photo shown) had left a few weeks earlier than the baptism, but his work was done in Devine, and it was left to the leaders of the church to tend to the new members of their flock! So, it was back to the depot for Reverand McConnell’s “send-off” back to Longview! It is fortunate that Mr. Martin also photographed that day, when Rev. McConnell, who had come in by train, left Devine by train; but not before making his mark on the hearts of sixty newly baptized people in Devine, Texas.