Baptist Temple Church

Baptist Temple Church stands on the southwest corner of South 4th Street and Mount Vernon Street. The building goes back to the late 1860s or early 1870s, when the Second Baptist Church erected a meeting-house on the southwest corner of Fourth and Mount Vernon, of brick, two stories high and costing, with ground, eighteen thousand dollars.

This church operated as the Second Baptist Church as late as 1888, according to City Directories. That year’s Directory shows the congregation being led by Rev. John D. Flansburg. The 1890 Directory shows the name had been changed to Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, and that Rev. Flansburg still led the church; however declining membership and dissatisfaction with Rev. Flansburg caused much controversy. The 1894 Directory shows that the church had once again been reorganized, and was then known as Emmanuel Baptist Church, with Rev. Joseph N. Folwell now at its helm. Among his successors were Rev. John Snape and Rev. Dr. Quentin Chew Davis. Emmanuel Baptist Church remained at this location until 1920, when the present occupant, Baptist Temple Church, acquired the property, which they still occupy.

The Baptist Temple Church was founded in 1917 as the Morning Star Baptist Church. This congregation renamed itself Baptist Temple Church and acquired the building at South 4th Street and Mt. Vernon Street in late 1919 or early 1920.