Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, Providence, Rhode Island

About this church, there is one thing to say

It is the oldest Baptist Church in the USA 

The Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, built in 1774-1775, is the home of the first and oldest Baptist church in America (the whole western hemisphere). The church was gathered by Roger Williams in 1638. He was the one who also founded Providence and the Colony of Rhode Island in 1636 after being banished on pain of death from Massachusetts. Today, this building the largest wooden building in the United States that survives from the American colonial era. Furthermore, no Baptist meetinghouse anywhere looked like this one before this one was built in 1774-1775. Prior to this time, every Baptist meetinghouse was a plain structure without a steeple or bell. [see attached picture of a typical meetinghouse before 1775]  The Meeting House is the place where the graduation exercises for Brown University have taken place since 1775. [The present building is the third meetinghouse that the FBCIA has had in its 377 year history. The first two were plain, small buildings that were torn down long ago.]

First Providence and then all of Rhode Island were unique in the world in the 1600s.  This was the only place where there was separation of church and state and complete religious liberty. This was the result of the work of Roger Williams.

J. Stanley Lemons, Ph.D.

Historian of the FBCIA

For more information, visit: http://www.fbcia.org/