First Baptist Church of Wetumpka - Wetumpka, AL - Alabama Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Looking at the large complex that currently occupies the site, it is hard to imagine a small group in a frontier area organizing their congregation and seeking to build their own church. The first services were held in the completed brick sanctuary in 1852, only a few years before members would have left to serve in the Civil War. A marker at the Presbyterian Church across the street indicates that was the gathering place for the local unit, but one can imagine this church was used as well.

The current church website does not have a history section, so all the information about the buildings can be found on the historical marker in front of the original sanctuary. The text reads as follows:

"Baptist settlers scattered along the Coosa River Valley established the church May 26, 1821. For the first twenty years, it was mostly known as the Coosa River Baptist Church. Migrating members sought several locations for the church, finally settling along the banks of Calloway Creek. In 1827, John Gray, church clerk and deacon, temporarily relocated the meeting house near a spring on his property. The frontier church grew successfully, but a few members moved to Wetumpka in 1836 due to some doctrinal differences. In 1837, the congregation united with a small church in town and became the Coosa River Baptist Church of Wetumpka.

Both the church and the town suffered loss in the 1840s. In 1843, when a fire ravaged the west side of town, the church building burned to the ground. The congregation secured another meeting place in a vacant store on the east side of the river. It, too, burned when a fire swept through downtown Wetumpka in 1845.

(Continued on other side) / (Continued from other side)

In 1846, the congregation acquired the present site from S.P. Storrs and began construction on this building on a pay-as-you-go plan. That year, the congregation met there after the ground floor rooms were completed. In 1847, they changed the name to First Baptist Church of Wetumpka. The congregation held its first service in the completed sanctuary on July 11, 1852.

The building changed very little until 1909, when they added decorative features to the sanctuary, new pulpit furniture, stained glass windows, electric lights and new pews.

In 1928, they added a three-story Sunday school addition to the rear of the building. In 1932, the congregation remodeled the sanctuary to install a new pipe organ. They expanded the educational facilities in 1959 and constructed a new sanctuary in 1967. In 1992, they added more educational space and a fellowship hall.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008"

Marker Name: First Baptist Church of Wetumpka Marker Type: Urban Addtional Information:: The marker is in front of the original sanctuary. Date Dedicated / Placed: 2008 Marker Number: Not Listed

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