Citadel Square Baptist Church - Charleston, SC - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

The following information on the church comes directly from the church' website

The “Citadel Square Church” is a daughter of the oldest Baptist congregation in the South, the First Baptist Church of Charleston which was founded c. 1683 and came to Charleston c. 1696.

The first historian of the church, now unknown to us, reports that this new congregation emerged in the mid-nineteenth century as the result of an “interesting revival” which took place in the life of First Baptist in the Spring of 1854. While First Baptist witnessed the conversion of many persons to Christ, a few of its members (twelve in number) were also stirred with evangelistic concern for the unreached persons living in the growing “Upper Wards” of the city. This burden gave birth to a vision for a new church. On the 27th of May, 1854, five couples along with two other men from First Baptist requested letters of dismission from First Baptist so that they might establish a new fellowship in the upper part of the city north of what was once called “Boundary Street” but is better known today as “Calhoun.”

On the 29th of May, 1854, this small group along with one additional couple from the Wentworth Street Baptist Church organized themselves into a church. Two days later, the new fellowship was publicly recognized in the lecture room of the First Baptist Church. The young Rev. James P. Boyce, son of the prominent and wealthy Ker Boyce of Charleston and future founder and President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, preached the dedication sermon. The Rev. J. H. Cuthbert gave the new congregation a charge and the Rev. J. R. Kendrick, pastor of First Baptist, welcomed them to the Baptist family of churches “with the right hand of fellowship.” That same evening, Messrs. Tupper and Shepherd were elected the first deacons of the church. A call was also extended to the Rev. Kendrick to be the church’s first pastor. Kendrick accepted the call and resigned as Pastor of First Baptist on the first Lord’s Day in June, 1854.

The new church did not begin public services of worship until the Autumn of 1854. On November 19, they had their first public worship service in the Orphan House Chapel located on Vanderhorst Street. A week later, the first “Sabbath School” was organized with eight teachers and twenty-seven pupils. Deacon Shepherd was elected Superintendent of the School, marking the beginning of a long tradition of deacon service in Sunday School which continues to this day. The church was chartered soon thereafter by the Senate and House of Representatives of South Carolina as the “Fourth Baptist Church, Charleston” in December, 1854.

As 1854 drew to a close, the struggling Morris Street Church expressed interest in uniting with the new Fourth Baptist Church. The inquiry was received with enthusiasm by the church and leading Baptists in the city. Hence on the first Lord’s Day in January, 1855, the two fellowships were united with the dissolution of Morris Street Church. Because of the merger of the two fellowships and the selection of a site for a house of worship on the Citadel Green, the name of the church was changed to the “Citadel Square Baptist Church.” Worship continued in the Orphan House until October of 1855 when the church moved to the building on Morris Street previously held by the Morris Street Church.

On the 23rd of November, 1856, the church dedicated its original house of worship still in use today. Located on the corner of Meeting and Henrietta Streets, this house of worship was known into the early twentieth century as the finest Baptist house of worship in all the South. What is more significant, however, is that this beautiful edifice, built to seat 1,000 persons, belonged to a congregation which just two years earlier was fourteen in number and, at the time of dedication, had a mere membership of two hundred and seventeen, one hundred and nineteen of whom were slaves! Such was the vision of this church to reach men and women with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This church has been from her beginning a Great Commission Church. May she ever be for Christ’s sake!

Date the Church was built, dedicated or cornerstone laid: 11/23/1856 Age of Church building determined by?: Church website If Church holds a weekly worship service and "all are welcome", please give the day of the week: Sunday Indicate the time that the primary worship service is held. List only one: 11:00 AM Street address of Church: 328 Meeting Street Charleston, SC United States 29414 Primary website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link] If denomination of Church is not part of the name, please provide it here: Not listed If Church is open to the public, please indicate hours: Not listed Secondary Website for Church or Historic Church Building: Not listed

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