First Baptist Church in America
First Baptist Meetinghouse | |
Contributing Property | |
Location | Providence, RI |
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Coordinates | 41°49′38″N 71°24′29″W / 41.82722°N 71.40806°W |
Built | 1775 |
Architect | Joseph Brown; Multiple |
Architectural style | Georgian |
Part of | College Hill Historic District (ID70000019) |
NRHP reference No. | 66000017 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
Designated NHL | October 9, 1960[2] |
Designated NHLDCP | November 10, 1970 |
The First Baptist Meetinghouse, also known as the First Baptist Church in America is the oldest
History
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Roger Williams had been holding religious services in his home for nearly a year before he converted his congregation into a Baptist church in 1638. This followed his founding of Providence in 1636. For the next sixty years, the congregation met in congregants' homes, or outdoors in pleasant weather. Baptists in Rhode Island through most of the 17th century declined to erect meetinghouses because they felt such buildings reflected vanity. Eventually, however, they came to see the utility of some gathering place, and they erected severely plain-style meetinghouses like those of the Quakers.
Roger Williams was a
When it was built in 1774–75, the current meetinghouse represented a dramatic departure from the traditional Baptist meetinghouse style. It was the first Baptist meetinghouse to have a
Association with Brown University
Central to the movement for greater recognition and growth was the creation of an educated ministry and the founding of a college. The Philadelphia Association of Baptist Churches sent Dr. James Manning to Rhode Island to found the college in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (later renamed Brown University) in 1764. Beginning in Warren, the college then relocated to Providence in 1770. The college president, Manning, was also called to be the pastor of the Providence church in 1771. During his ministry the present Meeting House was erected "for the publick worship of Almighty God and also for holding commencement in."[3] Subsequent Brown presidents Jonathan Maxcy and Francis Wayland also served as ministers at the church.
The Brown family that soon gave its name to the university were prominent members of the church, and descendants of its founders and those of the Rhode Island Colony (the second pastor of the congregation after Roger Williams was Chad Brown). Although the university is now secular, in honor of its history and tradition, the meetinghouse continues to be used, as it has been since 1776, as the site of Brown University's undergraduate commencement.[4]
Construction, alterations and designations
Construction of the church began in the summer of 1774; at the time, the project was the largest building project ever attempted in New England.[5] Due to the closure of the Massachusetts ports by the British as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, out-of-work ship builders and carpenters came to Providence to work on the meetinghouse. The main portion of the meetinghouse was dedicated in mid-May 1775, and the steeple erected in three and a half days in the first week of June.[6]
Notable additions to the meetinghouse have included a
In 1957, John D. Rockefeller Jr. funded a restoration effort that removed Victorian additions to the building, returning much of the church's interior to its original appearance.[8]
Notably absent from the interior is a gallery originally constructed on the church's western side for use by slaves and free black residents of Providence.[9]
The building was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.[2][1]
Architecture
The building was designed by astronomer and amateur architect Joseph Brown. Brown's design borrowed significantly from the designs English architect James Gibbs published in his 1728 Book of Architecture. The church's steeple, for example, is an exact execution of one of three unbuilt designs for the spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields.[6]
Today
In addition to weekly worship services, the Meeting House hosts concerts, talks, and lectures by world-renowned artists, performers, academics, and elected officials. Brown University holds commencement services of its undergraduate college at the meetinghouse.
In 2001, History professor J. Stanley Lemons wrote a history of the church, entitled First: The History of the First Baptist Church in America[10][11]
Affiliations
The First Baptist Church in America is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island (ABCORI) and the
Gallery
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This 1789 engraving of the church was the first published image of Providence[12]
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This 1822 painting depicts the church and surrounding buildings
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Frank Leslie's Illustrated Sunday magazine, 1877
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An evening view of the building's illuminated steeple
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The church from the rear
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The building's interior
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The building's rear showing the 1884 addition.
Settled ministers (sometimes simultaneous pastorships)
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See also
- List of tallest buildings in Providence, Rhode Island
- Oldest churches in the United States
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b "First Baptist Meetinghouse". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
- ^ "History", Commencement, Brown University, 2010.
- ^ "Commencement/Reunion Overview: Brown University to Hold 237th Commencement on Sunday, May 29". Providence, RI, USA: Brown University. May 5, 2005. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
- ^ "Providence Architecture | Locations | First Baptist Meeting House". www.brown.edu. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
- ^ a b Isham, Norman Morrison (1925). The Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in Providence: A History of the Fabric. Akerman-Standard Company. p. 14.
- ^ "Quahog.org: Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America". www.quahog.org. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ "Providence Architecture | Locations | First Baptist Meeting House". www.brown.edu. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4798-0167-1.
- ^ J. Stanley Lemons, "The Browns and the Baptists," Rhode Island History 67 (Summer/Fall, 2009), 74–82.
- ^ Lemons, J (December 5, 2008). "Williams wasn't a 'free-thinker'". The Providence Journal. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
- ^ "Images of Brown". library.brown.edu. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Meeting House info Archived 2021-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. RI-38, "First Baptist Meetinghouse, 75 North Main Street, Providence, Providence County, RI", 37 photos, 5 data pages, supplemental material
- SAH Archipedia entry Archived 2015-10-22 at the Wayback Machine