"HISTORY OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH"
RICHMOND, KY.
By David C. Greene, Church HistorianUntil 1828 there was no Baptist Church in Richmond. Richmond at the time had a population of about 1,000 and the only newspaper was the Farmer's Chronicle, a weekly which reported county news and carried advertisements by local businessmen. The only church house in the town had been built by the Presbyterians on the present site of the First Presbyterian Church.
The Baptist[s] who lived in Richmond did their worshipping at the Mount Nebo Baptist Church some two or three miles from Richmond. The Richmond Baptists, though, were eager to build a church of their own, and on March 15, 1828, General Green Clay - Revolutionary War soldier and father of the famed emancipationist Cassius Marcellus Clay -- gave (in conjunction with his wife Sally) to Thomas Burnam, M.Q. Ashby, and William Mcclanahan a plot of ground on the corner of Main Street and Lancaster Avenue in trust for the purpose of the PARTICULAR BAPTIST CHURCH, to be constituted in the town of Richmond. The deed provided that the property would revert back to Clay and his heirs if converted to any other use. A church had to be built on the land within two years, and Clay reserved the right to select two pews "for the use of himself, his children, and their families forever." Mr. Clay wished the land to be regarded as a gift from his daughter, Mrs. Madison T. Johnson; Mrs. Johnson
p. 7
and her sisters, Mrs. John Speed Smith, and Mrs. William Rodes, had, along with their mother, Mrs. Sally (Lewis) Clay, been members of the Particular Baptist Baptist Church at Mount Nebo, and they longed for such a church in Richmond.The first church building, a one-story wooden structure, was erected in 1830, but no church was actually organized in the building until 1840. After erecting their new building the Trustees of the Richmond Church had been trying to persuade the Mount Nebo Baptists to come and unite with them in Richmond however, very few of the Mount Nebo Baptists did so, as well as the other county Baptist Churches. In Richmond, meanwhile, a considerable number of the oldest families in the community who were no[t] Presbyterians, but really connected with the Particular Baptist Church of Richmond, owned pews in the Presbyterian Church and attended its services regularly, except on one Sabbath in the month when there was preaching at the Baptist church. The presence of these families of highest standing in the congregation tended to promote the influence of Presbyterians in the community. And some of the younger members of nearly all these families became communicants in this church.
Not only were the Richmond Baptists losing members to the Presbyterian Church at this time, but they were also threatened by the "Reform Movement" of Alexander Campbell. Campbell has been preaching in the Baptist Churches and Associations of Kentucky since 1823; and, though many of Campbell's teachings ran contrary to the traditional Baptist doctrines, Campbell had gained many followers among the Baptists.
Members following the teachings of Campbell, and the Campbellites were forbidden to preach or teach in Baptist meeting houses. By 1832, the Kentucky Baptists lost over a fifth of their 45,000 members to the new denominations; the Tates Creek Association lost twenty of its twenty-five churches and all but 156 of its 2,661 members. The Richmond church was no[t] exempt from the Campbellites' "threat" even in the latter part of the 1830's. In 1839, "the Particular Baptist Church of Richmond excluded Nathaniel Sims and his sister, Isabel Taylor, because they had opened the meeting house doors, contrary to orders, to the Campbellites."
The new church survived even these difficult times, however, meeting once a month to conduct its business.
On May 30, 1840, ten years after construction of the new church house, Elders Thomas P. Dudley, Thomas Wolerton, and Allen Embry met at the church house and formally constituted the Particular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ at Richmond, having a beginning [of] nineteen chartered members. At this organizational meeting the church elected James Dudley, clerk, and Thomas Wolverton, pastor.
On the second Saturday in August of 1843, the members agreed to change the Church's name from the Particular Baptist Church to the Predestinarian Baptist Church at Richmond. By 1860, Predestinarian was changed to the Regular Baptist Church at Richmond.
In 1849, the Richmond Baptist Church was stricken - as indeed, all of Madison County was - by the Cholera epidemic. Curtis Field Burnam, a member of the church at that time, has left an account of the epidemic:
"In the summer of 1849, a general panic swept over the town and three-fifths of the population fled. The town
p. 8was also deserted. Out of a population of 400 people, the total number of deaths were about fifty in town. Its victims were [of] all ages and of all classes. Hardly a single family escaped death. The drug stores were open night and day; the dead were hurried to their graves without a ceremony, not even a prayer [was] offered, the churches were silent on the Sabbath Day, and the ministers, many of them true and faithful, watched over the sick and dying."In 1858, the members raised a fund of $1,000.00 for improvements to the church building. As it turned out, however, the improvements were to be largely wasted, for on August 29, 1862, during the battle of Richmond in the Civil War, the Federal Army took possession of the church and converted it into a hospital. Union Soldiers tore out the pews and pulpit and threw them into the backyard; the soldiers occupied the building until February, 1863, and left it in a general state of bad repair.Then, during the period from 1865 there appeared on the scene the Missionary Baptist[s]. The Missionary Baptist Church of Richmond was organized in 1867 drawing its members from the Richmond church and the county congregation. For fifteen years the Missionary Baptists had no church building of their own, and they worshipped first in the Predestinarian Baptist Church of Richmond, then in the Methodist Church, then in the Madison County courthouse, and finally in Green's Opera House, where the Glyndon Hotel now stands.
In 1882 by request of the United or Missionary Baptists, the guarantees of the Clay deed sold the group a half-interest in the property, and a church was built jointly in that year. Each of the denominations was to exercise the use of the property on two Sundays in the month.
In May, 1883, the second church building was dedicated, and the sermon that day was preached by Dr. Lansing Burrough of Nashville, Tenn.
Twenty-six different ministers have served the church during its long and eventful history.
In 1886 the property in the back of the church building was sold to J. Stone Walker at a cost of $1000 for construction of an Episcopal Church there.
Societies were organized that proved a benefit to the young church. The Ladies Aid Society was organized in 1885 beginning with eight women and expanding rapidly. These women were able to pay $7,000 for a beautiful organ and $800 for carpeting. This society disbanded in 1930.
The rapid growth of Eastern Kentucky State Teacher's College, located in Richmond 65 years ago, encouraged the erection of a new building by 1922, the student body having grown to such proportions that the church was compelled to rent quarters to care for those who attended our church services. Under the leadership of Dr. O. Olin Green, a building committee was selected consisting of Harvey Chenault, Chair-man, L.P. Evans, R.C. Covington, J. Calvin Taylor, C.B. English and W.C. Chenault.
By a strange providence none of this committee witnesses the com-pletion of the building, all of them dying within the time of building with the exception of C.B. English who moved to Rocky Gap, VA. T.D. Chenault, Jr., served as chairman of a second building committee. The new building cost $84,000; this building was dedicated on Sunday, May 11, 1924, Dr. John R. Sampey of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary preached the dedicatory sermon.
p. 9
In 1965 the present educational building was completed.On March 22, 1977, a major renovation and enlargement of the sanctuary was started, this renovation doubled the seating capacity and added air conditioning. The sanctuary was completely refurn-ished and redecorated, as well as the space beneath the sanctuary.
From time to time additional property has been secured, providing the parking lot adjacent to the church.
WE ARE GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR THE FORESIGHT OF MEMBERS THROUGH THE YEARS, WHO HAVING MADE POSSIBLE OUR PRESENT PROPERTY. VISION MUST CONTINUE AS WE MAKE MAIN AND LANCASTER A PLACE OF BEAUTY AND MEANING FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD.
=================== [From E.G. Goins, Editor, Kentucky Baptist Heritage Journal, Volume VI, November, 1979, No. 2, pp. 6-9. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
More on Kentucky Baptists
Baptist History Homepage