First Baptist Church in America
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| First Baptist Meetinghouse | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | Providence, RI |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1775 |
| Architect: | Joseph Brown |
| Architectural style(s): | Georgian |
| Designated as NHL: | 1966 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000017 |
| Governing body: | Private church |
The First Baptist Church in America is The First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, the oldest Baptist church in the United States, founded by Roger Williams and William Vincent Carpenter in Providence, Rhode Island in 1638.
[edit] History
Roger Williams is credited with founding the church in 1638 shortly after his founding of Providence in 1636. Arminian in tone, it not long afterward became virtually what is now known as a Free Will Baptist church. William Wickenden, a colonial dissident, served as one of the first ministers of the church, and nearby Wickenden Street took his name. For the first sixty years the church met in congregants' homes. In 1700 Reverend Pardon Tillinghast built the first church building, a 400 square foot structure, on Smith and North Main Streets, and the congregation built the second meetinghouse nearby in 1726.
The congregation built current meeting house in 1775 under the leadership of James Manning on the site of an disused apple orchard. The meeting house has served as the site of Brown University's commencement site for all but two Brown's Commencements since 1776.[1] Brown was founded by Baptist colonists from Rhode Island.
[edit] External links
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