To many it is simply Palacios Encampment. Palacios is a family name in Spanish. It's meaning is "palace". As a Baptist Encampment it had it's birth through the influence of Baptist Young People's Union (BYPU). After their annual gathering in Bonham in 1901 they adopted this unanimous statement: "Be it resolved that the convention appoint a committee to arrange for an encampment next summer at some point where all can meet for some days and enjoy a feast of soul and rest of body". The committee chose a plot of land near Laporte. They had the first gathering there in 1905...and nearly washed away! Lacking street car and rail service from Houston it was decided to look some more. W.H. Travis,. President of The Baptist Academy at Palacios, recommended they move there. After much discussion and consideration of other locations they finally chose Palacios. On July 3-12, 1906, the first encampment was held at Hamilton Point.
Speakers came from everywhere. The first year they had one of Texas Baptist's greatest preachers, Dr. George W. Truett, of First Baptist, Dallas. He would preach the opening sermon for the next eighteen years! The entrance fee was one SILVER dollar! Lots for building cottages were available for lease for $25-$50 dollars for twenty-five years.. Five hundred tents were available. Cots were fifty cents. A bale of hay was furnished for free. Cooking was done over open fires and charcoal furnaces. There was a restaurant in town and food stand on the property. Twenty-five cents would get one a decent meal.
A gulf storm hit in 1934 and brought about the building of a seawall. A cafeteria opened in 1941. The auditorium was destroyed by another storm in 1942. An open-air tabernacle was built in 1944 and a swimming pool was added in 1955.
In 1961 Hurricane Carla churned ashore, destroying 13 dorms and living quarters, seriously damaging others. Hundreds of volunteers came to help them rebuild. The Roberts Conference Center and Thibodeaux Conference Center were built. Ulise Thibodeaux, the conference manager, was killed in an automobile accident on the curve near our Rockport airport. Orville Roberts was Associational Missionary and former pastor at El Campo. He was a dear friend. His wife is in a care facility in Calallen.
It is estimated some 450,000 people have attended Palacios through the years for various retreats. Some 38,000, by records, have come to know the Lord there. It is a special place in the lives of many Texans.
Texas Baptist Encampment is less than 100 miles from Rockport, between Port Lavaca and Bay City. It is right on the bay. Stop by to see it when traveling Highway 35 toward Houston. It is as different from Paisano in it's setting as a place can be. God will meet His people on any grounds, and at any time, when we make ourselves available to Him.
To view historic pictures of the encampment, click here.
