View source for First Baptist Church in America

{{short description|Historic church in Rhode Island, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = First Baptist Meetinghouse
| nrhp_type = nhl
| image = First Baptist Church in America from Angell St.jpg
| caption = Front elevation, 2020
| locmapin = Rhode Island#USA
| coordinates = {{coord|41|49|38|N|71|24|29|W|region:US-RI_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], [[Rhode Island|RI]]
| nearest_city = 
| area = 
| built = 1775
| architect = [[Joseph Brown (astronomer)|Joseph Brown]]; Multiple
| architecture = [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]]
| designated_nrhp_type = October 9, 1960<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=19&ResourceType=Building|title=First Baptist Meetinghouse|access-date=2008-06-28|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007065217/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=19&ResourceType=Building|archive-date=2012-10-07}}</ref>
| added = October 15, 1966<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref>
| refnum = 66000017
| nrhp_type2 = nhldcp
| nocat = yes
| designated_nrhp_type2 = November 10, 1970
| partof = [[College Hill Historic District (Providence, Rhode Island)|College Hill Historic District]]
| partof_refnum = 70000019
}}
The '''First Baptist Meetinghouse''', also known as the '''First Baptist Church in America''' is the oldest [[Baptists|Baptist]] church [[Congregationalist polity|congregation]] in the [[United States]]. The Church was founded in 1638 by [[Roger Williams (theologian)|Roger Williams]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. The present church building was erected between 1774 and 1775 and held its first meetings in May 1775. It is located at 75 North Main Street in Providence's [[College Hill, Providence, Rhode Island|College Hill]] neighborhood. It was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1960. It is affiliated with the [[American Baptist Churches USA]].

==History==
{{Baptist}}
Roger Williams had been holding religious services in his home for nearly a year before he converted his congregation into a Baptist church in 1638. This followed his founding of Providence in 1636. For the next sixty years, the congregation met in congregants' homes, or outdoors in pleasant weather. Baptists in Rhode Island through most of the 17th century declined to erect meetinghouses because they felt such buildings reflected vanity. Eventually, however, they came to see the utility of some gathering place, and they erected severely plain-style meetinghouses like those of the Quakers.

Roger Williams was a [[Calvinist]], but within a few years of its founding, the congregation became more [[Arminianism|Arminian]], and was clearly a [[General Six-Principle Baptist]] church by 1652. It remained a General Baptist church until it migrated back to a variety of Calvinism under the leadership of [[James Manning (minister)|James Manning]] in the 1770s. Following Williams as pastor of the church was [[Chad Brown (minister)|Chad Brown]], founder of the famous Brown family of Rhode Island. A number of the streets in Providence bear the names of pastors of First Baptist Church, including Williams, Brown, [[Gregory Dexter]], Thomas Olney, [[William Wickenden]], Manning, and [[Stephen Gano]]. In 1700, [[Pardon Tillinghast]] built the first church building, a {{convert|400|sqft| m2|adj=on}} structure, near the corner of Smith and North Main Streets. In 1711 he donated the building and land to the church in a deed describing the church as General Six-Principle Baptist in theology. In 1736 the congregation built its second meetinghouse on an adjoining lot at the corner of Smith and North Main Streets. This building was about 40 × 40 feet square (i.e.{{convert|1600|sqft| m2|adj=on}}).

When it was built in 1774–75, the current meetinghouse represented a dramatic departure from the traditional Baptist meetinghouse style. It was the first Baptist meetinghouse to have a [[steeple (architecture)|steeple]] and bell, making it more like Anglican and Congregational church buildings. The builders were part of a movement among Baptists in the urban centers of Boston, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia to bring respectability and recognition to Baptists.

===Association with Brown University===
Central to the movement for greater recognition and growth was the creation of an educated ministry and the founding of a college. The Philadelphia Association of Baptist Churches sent Dr. [[James Manning (minister)|James Manning]] to Rhode Island to found the college in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (later renamed [[Brown University]]) in 1764. Beginning in [[Warren, Rhode Island|Warren]], the college then relocated to Providence in 1770. The college president, Manning, was also called to be the pastor of the Providence church in 1771. During his ministry the present Meeting House was erected "for the publick worship of Almighty God and also for holding commencement in."<ref>{{Citation | contribution-url = https://www.brown.edu/web/commencement/2010/content/history.html | publisher = Brown University | title = Commencement | year = 2010 | contribution = History}}.</ref> Subsequent Brown presidents [[Jonathan Maxcy]] and [[Francis Wayland]] <!-- Use full names in first reference to these men -->also served as ministers at the church.

The Brown family that soon gave its name to the university were prominent members of the church, and descendants of its founders and those of the Rhode Island Colony (the second pastor of the congregation after Roger Williams was [[Chad Brown (minister)|Chad Brown]]). Although the university is now secular, in honor of its history and tradition, the meetinghouse continues to be used, as it has been since 1776, as the site of Brown University's undergraduate commencement.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-124.html | title =Commencement/Reunion Overview: Brown University to Hold 237th Commencement on Sunday, May 29 | date = 2005-05-05 | access-date = 2009-02-13 | publisher = Brown University | location = Providence, RI, USA}}</ref>

=== Construction, alterations and designations ===
Construction of the church began in the summer of 1774; at the time, the project was the largest building project ever attempted in [[New England]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Providence Architecture {{!}} Locations {{!}} First Baptist Meeting House|url=https://www.brown.edu/cis/sta/dev/providence_architecture/locations/college_hill/first_baptist_meeting_house/|access-date=2021-08-21|website=www.brown.edu}}</ref> Due to the closure of the Massachusetts ports by the British as punishment for the [[Boston Tea Party]], out-of-work ship builders and carpenters came to Providence to work on the meetinghouse. The main portion of the meetinghouse was dedicated in mid-May 1775, and the steeple erected in three and a half days in the first week of June.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Isham|first=Norman Morrison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgc2AAAAIAAJ|title=The Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in Providence: A History of the Fabric|date=1925|publisher=Akerman-Standard Company|pages=14|language=en}}</ref>

Notable additions to the meetinghouse have included a [[Waterford crystal]] chandelier given by [[Hope Brown Ives]] (1792), a large pipe organ given by her brother [[Nicholas Brown Jr.]], the younger (1834); the addition of rooms for [[Sunday school]], a fellowship hall, and offices on the lower level (1819–59), and an addition to the east end of the meetinghouse to accommodate an indoor [[baptistery]] (1884). The 1884 addition included a large stained glass window that was soon deemed inappropriate and shuttered over.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Quahog.org: Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America|url=https://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=72|access-date=2020-12-14|website=www.quahog.org|archive-date=2021-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118234220/https://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=72|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1957, [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] funded a restoration effort that removed Victorian additions to the building, returning much of the church's interior to its original appearance.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Providence Architecture {{!}} Locations {{!}} First Baptist Meeting House|url=https://www.brown.edu/cis/sta/dev/providence_architecture/locations/college_hill/first_baptist_meeting_house/|access-date=2020-12-14|website=www.brown.edu}}</ref>

Notably absent from the interior is a gallery originally constructed on the church's western side for use by slaves and free black residents of Providence.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boles|first=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfLaDwAAQBAJ&dq=slave+gallery+first+baptist+church+providence&pg=PT92|title=Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North|date=2020-12-29|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-4798-0167-1|language=en}}</ref>

The building was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1960, and listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1966.<ref name="nhlsum" /><ref name="nris" />

== Architecture ==
The building was designed by astronomer and amateur architect [[Joseph Brown (astronomer)|Joseph Brown]]. Brown's design borrowed significantly from the designs English architect [[James Gibbs]] published in his 1728 ''Book of Architecture''. The church's steeple, for example, is an exact execution of one of three unbuilt designs for the spire of [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]].<ref name=":0" />

==Today==
In addition to weekly worship services, the Meeting House hosts concerts, talks, and lectures by world-renowned artists, performers, academics, and elected officials. Brown University holds commencement services of its undergraduate college at the meetinghouse.

In 2001, History professor J. Stanley Lemons wrote a history of the church, entitled ''First: The History of the First Baptist Church in America''<ref>J. Stanley Lemons, "The Browns and the Baptists," ''Rhode Island History'' 67 (Summer/Fall, 2009), 74–82.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.projo.com/opinion/letters/content/LT_lemons_RDY_12-15-08_4SCIL0P_v9.3e31788.html | title = Williams wasn't a 'free-thinker' | last = Lemons | first = J | date = 2008-12-05 | access-date = 2009-01-13 | publisher = The Providence Journal}}</ref>

==Affiliations==
The First Baptist Church in America is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island (ABCORI) and the [[American Baptist Churches|American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA)]]. The church actively supports the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the [[National Council of Churches]], the [[Baptist World Alliance]], and the [[Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty]]. Many members have served in various denominational, academic, and divinity school positions, including the presidency of Brown University.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:A S.W. View of the Baptist meeting House, Providence, R.I.jpg|This 1789 engraving of the church was the first published image of Providence<ref>{{Cite web|title=Images of Brown|url=https://library.brown.edu/cds/images_of_brown/emlen/|access-date=2020-10-17|website=library.brown.edu}}</ref>
File:President Street, The First Baptist Meeting House and Adjoining Buildings.jpg|This 1822 painting depicts the church and surrounding buildings
File:First Baptist Church in America in RI.jpg|''[[Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper|Frank Leslie's Illustrated]]'' Sunday magazine, 1877
File:First Baptist Church in America.jpg|An evening view of the building's illuminated steeple
File:First Baptist Church, Providence rear.jpg|The church from the rear
File:First Baptist Church Providence interior.JPG|The building's interior
File:First Baptist Church, Providence rear facade.jpg|The building's rear showing the 1884 addition.
</gallery>

==Settled ministers (sometimes simultaneous pastorships)==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
*[[Roger Williams (theologian)|Roger Williams]], 1638–39
*[[Chad Brown (minister)|Chad Brown]], 1639 – before 1650
*[[Thomas Olney]], 1639–1652
*[[William Wickenden]], 1642–1670
*[[Gregory Dexter]], 1654–1700
*[[Pardon Tillinghast]], 1681–1718
*[[Ebenezer Jenckes]] 1719–1726
* James Colvin 1725–1755
*James Brown 1726–1732
*[[Samuel Winsor]], 1733–1758
*[[Thomas Burlingame]] 1733–1764
*[[Samuel Winsor Jr]], 1759–1771
*[[James Manning (minister)|James Manning]], 1771–1791
*[[John Stanford (minister)|John Stanford]], 1788–1789
*[[Jonathan Maxcy]], 1791–1792
*[[Stephen Gano]] MD, 1792–1828
*Robert Pattison, 1830–36
*William Hague, 1837–40
*Robert Pattison, 1840–1842
*James Granger, 1842–1857
{{col-break}}
*[[Francis Wayland]], 1857–1858
*Samuel Caldwell, 1858–1873
*[[Edward G. Taylor]], 1875–1881
*[[Thomas Edwin Brown]], 1882–1890
*[[Henry Melville King]], 1891–1906
*[[Elijah Abraham Hanley]], 1907–1911
*[[John F. Vichert]], 1912–1916
*[[Albert B. Cohoe]], 1916–1920
*[[Arthur W. Cleaves]], 1922–1940
*[[Albert C. Thomas]], 1941–1954
*[[Homer L. Trickett]], 1955–1970
*[[Robert G. Withers]], 1971–1975
*[[Richard D. Bausman]], 1976–1982
*[[Orland L. Tibbetts]], 1983–1986
*[[Dwight M. Lundgren]], 1983–1996
*[[Kate Harvey Penfield]], 1987–1995
*[[Clifford R. Hockensmith]], 1997–1999
*James C. Miller, 2000–2005
*[[Dan Ivins]], 2006–2014
*Jamie P. Washam, 2015–
{{col-end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity|Rhode Island|Architecture}}
*[[List of tallest buildings in Providence, Rhode Island]]
*[[Oldest churches in the United States]]
*[[List of National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island]]
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|First Baptist Church of Providence}}
*{{Official website |http://www.fbcia.org/}}
*[http://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=72 Meeting House info] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119210326/http://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=72 |date=2021-11-19 }}
*{{HABS |survey=RI-38 |id=ri0188 |title=First Baptist Meetinghouse, 75 North Main Street, Providence, Providence County, RI |photos=37 |data=5 |supp=yes}}
*[http://sah-archipedia.org/detail%2Fcontent%2Fentries%2FRI-01-PR56.xml?q=%28century%3A1700s%29%20AND%20state%3A%22Rhode%20Island%22 SAH Archipedia entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022051609/http://sah-archipedia.org/detail%2Fcontent%2Fentries%2FRI-01-PR56.xml?q=%28century%3A1700s%29%20AND%20state%3A%22Rhode%20Island%22 |date=2015-10-22 }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:First Baptist Church In America}}
[[Category:Baptist churches in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:17th-century Baptist churches]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1630s]]
[[Category:Georgian architecture in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:1638 establishments in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1775]]
[[Category:Brown University]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Towers in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:American Baptist Churches USA churches]]
[[Category:Churches in Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:18th-century Baptist churches in the United States]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmark District contributing properties]]
[[Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Rhode Island]]