The Baptist Church is a masonry building with running bond brick walls, double-hung windows with pointed arched surrounds, and a tower with decorative round windows accented by wide, rounded wood molding with four, directional keystones. The front gable is covered with shingles.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
The First Baptist Church is a contributing building to the Missoula Downtown Historic District
The congregation was established in 1890 and this Baptist Church was built in 1910, not long after the first, an indication of how quickly the town was growing at that time. The original 1910 building, a handsome brick edifice, is now used as a hall, the
Fellowship Hall. An education wing was added in 1950 and a new building with the sanctuary was completed in 1960. With the construction of the new sanctuary (new as in only 54 years old this year), one could then say that there have been, in actuality, three First Baptist Churches built on this block.
Missoula was a small town on the frontier when First Baptist was established in 1890 as Emmanuel Baptist. The first pastor, Reverend John I. Benedict, came here at the direction of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, a predecessor of American Baptist Churches USA. The first church building was located on the northwest corner of this block. In 1910, a new building was constructed on the corner of Pine and Woody that now serves as our Fellowship Hall. The education wing was added in 1950 and the new building with the sanctuary was completed in 1960.
Through these organizations we support missions locally, nationally, and world wide.
American Baptist Churches USA
www.abc-usa.org
American Baptist Churches of the Northwest
abcnw.org
From The Church