FIRST - Beale Street Baptist Church - Memphis, TN
Posted by: Lat34North
N 35° 08.352 W 090° 02.926
15S E 768888 N 3892467
Beale Street Baptist Church is the oldest, continuous Negro congregation in Memphis. Located on Beale Street at 4th Street, Memphis, TN.
Waymark Code: WMT58X
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 09/28/2016
Views: 2
This location has two first. In addition to being the oldest continuous Negro congregation in Memphis, it is also the first brick church in the mid-South built by and for blacks.
The marker at the church reads:
Beale Street Baptist Church
(side 1)
Founded in the late 1840s by Rev. Morris Henderson and four other blacks, Beale Street Baptist Church is the oldest, continuous Negro congregation in Memphis. Withdrawing from the First Baptist Church, the founders and others met in an old dwelling house until it burned in the 1860s. Later they acquired a lot for $5,000 and held their early meetings in a brush arbor. Soon afterward the present building was constructed. Architects were E.C. Jones and M. H Baldwin. This was the first brick church in the mid-South built by and for blacks.
(side 2)
It is considered the mother church of all black Baptist churches in the area. Ministers who have served this church include: Revs. Morris Henderson, Scott Key, R. N. Countee, Taylor Nightingale, P.J. Jackson, Henry Clemons, J.P. Hurt, J.C. Bowers, J.L. Lewis, B.J. Perkins, George A. Long, and James A Jordan. Many outstanding leaders have spoken here, including President Ulysses S Grant in 1880, U.S. Rep. Oscar DePriest in 1930, and a Philip Randolph in 1944.
Erected in 1987 by the Beale Street Baptist Church
and the Shelby County Historical Commission
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
Date of FIRST: Not listed
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