Freestone County, Texas Communities Ward Prairie Ward Prairie is a community on Farm Road 488 about four miles northeast of Fairfield in central Freestone County. Ward Prairie is about a little over a mile south of the Lake Chapel community. The area farms are drained by Walnut Creek on the west and PinOak Creek on the east. Ward Prairie is a community based on the Ward Prairie Baptist Church that was a foundation for its area residents so long. Ward Prairie is a farming community founded in one of the first areas that was naturally free of trees at the start of the prairie. The reason that the area was naturally free of trees unknown to the early settlers was the coal fields that lay underneath. Ward Prairie Baptist Church's modern address is 341 FM 488. The wooden structure harkens back to a time gone back. The Ward Prairie Baptist Church has a long unbroken history: In 1878, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church was part of the Trinity River Association. Their messenger was D.J. Welch. J.D. William was the pastor with D.J. Welch as clerk. In 1883, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church sent J.M. Chappell and S.S. Orand to the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. Peter E. Kirvin was the pastor and B.F. Griffin was the clerk at the time. The church had 47 members. The next year, 1884, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church sent J.W. Horton and J.C. Griffin to the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. Peter E. Kirvin was the pastor and J.C. Griffin was the clerk at the time. The church grew to 86 members. 1886 was a rocky year for Ward's Prairie Baptist Church. 20 were dismissed by letter reducing the congregation down to 58 members. John D. Sellers and Benjamin Robert Speed represented the church at the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. E. J. Brown of Fairfield became the pastor and James F. Hubbard was his clerk. 1887 was a stable year with the only change being sending C.R. McCormack as the messenger. 1889 was a good year bringing the membership up to 80. E.J. Brown was still the pastor with J.S. Seal as clerk; I.W. Horton, James Lafayette Childs, and E.F. Griffin were the messengers. 1890 was a stable year with no changes of note. On Decemeber 18, 1894, James Aaron Willard sold half of an acre of land for $25.00 to the deacons and trustees of the Ward Prarie Baptist Church and School Commissioners. By 1895, membership had slowly grown to 90. In the 1930s Ward Prairie had a school, a church, two cemeteries, a business, and a number of scattered dwellings. In the 1960s the community had a church, a few cemeteries, and a few dwellings, and in the late 1980s the church and cemeteries still remained. In modern times, the Big Brown Power Plant (a coal plant) is in the area. In 1995, Ward Prairie was raising money for a new fellowship hall. Historical Marker says: "Ward Prairie, named for an early pioneer family, was the site of Lake Chapel Methodist Church as early as the 1860s. The chapel, on land donated by another pioneer family, was used as a meeting place for other denominations, as well. Ward Prairie Baptist Church, officially organized in 1869 under the direction of the Rev. J. C. Averitt, met in the Methodist Chapel until 1893, when land two miles south was given to the church by the J. W. Orand family. The Lake Chapel Methodist congregation had been consolidated with another area church in the mid-1880s, and, according to local tradition, the chapel building was moved here and became the Ward Prairie Baptist Church. Membership in the church has varied over the years. Originally meeting only once a month, the congregation held services twice monthly beginning in 1952, and soon began to worship together each Sunday. Various events have combined to change the structure of the Ward Prairie community, but this church has continued to survive despite economic difficulties and area population shifts. A good example of a rural Texas church, Ward Prairie Baptist Church has been an integral part of the community's heritage for over a century. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986" Churches: Ward Prairie Baptist church Cemeteries in the area: Rehoboth/Rehobeth/Young Cemetery Lake Chapel Cemetery Day Cemetery Hickory Grove/Jameson Cemetery Stores: Horn & Huckaby Mill (1880s) Known people in Ward Prairie were: Bell, G. A. Brewer, Dick [moved to Red River County in 1885] Davis, John DuBois, Mr. Dunagan, F. P. (school teacher) Eskridge, Wm. B. [moved to Brady, McCullough County in 1886] Folk, J. W. Freeman, James [moved to Navarro County] Goodwin, George [moved to Navarro County] Grant, David Grant, Will Hatcher, R. J. Hinton, P. A. [moved to Hill County] Histon, Hugh Horn, Henry [moved to Navarro County] Ingram, Ruben Jemison, J. T. Kirven, Eld. P. E. [moved to Pin Oak near Wortham in 1886] Lake, J. E. Lake, Simeon Lake, T. D. Lane, Crawford Mayo, John Odom, B. F. Orand, J. W. Robertson, John Speed, Billy Speed, Brown Speed, P. D. Speed, Rufus Steen, James [moved to Navarro County] Steen, J. W. Steen, Robert Steen, Thomas Walker, G. M. [owned place and may have moved to Coryell County] Welch, D. J. (moved to Liberty, Freestone Co.) White, Thad [moved to Navarro County] Willard, Beverly Cantrell [moved to Navarro County] =========================================================================