Great River Road - Centennial Baptist Church - Helena AR - National Scenic Byways on Waymarking.com

The Centennial Baptist Church is located at the intersection of York and Columbia St in Helena, AR. It is an example of Gothic Revival and was built in 1905. It is in the oldest section of Helena and close to the Cherry St Historic District. The church displays typical Gothic Revival elements such as tower entries, double-hung lancet windows, buttresses and a central gable.

The Church is associated with Dr Elias Camp Morris, who served as pastor from 1879 to 1922. He devoted his life to religious, political and social acheivements of African Americans. He led the National Baptist Convention, the largest African American organization in the US at the end of the 19th century. Cenennila Baptist Church functioned as the headquarters of the National Baptist Convention. Dr Morris brought attention to the right of African Americans to establish independent religious associations. By 1900, the NBC represented over 60% of African American Baptists. Dr Morris was an African American leader during the period when the Jim Crow laws were used through out the south. These state and local laws essentially made segregation legal from the period 1876 ot 1965 under the guise of "separate but equal" practises.

The present church replaced an earlier building that the membership had outgrown. It was designed in 1905 by a member of the Morris's congregation in 1905.

Program: America's Byways Website: [Web Link] Official Name: Great River Road

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Date Logged Log   11/30/2013 walkingwildly visited it