Name: First Baptist Church
Address: 3100 Bell
Year: 1917
History:
First Baptist Church is the oldest black church in St. Louis. It was the first Protestant congregation for African Americans in St. Louis. It was established as the First African Baptist Church in 1818. Its first pastor was John Berry Meachum.
The church was erected in 1825 at Third and Almond (now Market) Streets in the downtown area. In 1848, it moved to Fourteenth and Clark and, in 1917, First Baptist Church bought its present site on Bell Avenue. The adjacent four-family flat was purchased and later converted into an educational building. The church burned to the ground in 1940 and was reconstructed on the same site within 13 months.
Reference
African-American Heritage of St. Louis: a Guide
Discovering African-American St. Louis
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