First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation)
National Register of Historic Places

First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation)

Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
Listed
February 10, 1971
Type
Building
Period
Early Republic
Ref No.
71000833

About this property

Beale Street Baptist Church, also known as, First Baptist Church or Beale Avenue Baptist Church, is a historic church on Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA. It was founded by a congregation of freed slaves. It was designed by the prominent Memphis architectural firm Jones & Baldwin, a partnership between Edward Culliatt Jones and Matthias Baldwin. Its foundation stone was laid in 1869, and it was constructed between 1871 and 1885. In the late 1880s, the church also housed the newspaper office of Ida B. Wells, the famous civil rights journalist. Over the years, Ulysses S. Grant and Teddy Roosevelt made visits to the church. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was included in an enlargement of the National Historic Landmark District of Beale Street in 1993. Adjacent to the church, a plaza dedicated to Ida B. Wells was established in 2021.

Location

379 Beale Ave.
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
35.13888, -90.04854

Categories

BLACK
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Tri-State Bank (Additional Documentation)
Industrial
0 mi
Universal Life Insurance Company
Industrial
0.2 mi
Beale Street Historic District
Industrial
0.2 mi
Clayborn Temple
Modern
0.2 mi
First Baptist Church
Early Republic
0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Memphis Raid by Forrest
1864Civil War
0.4 mi
Naval Battle of Memphis
1862Civil War
0.5 mi
Second Battle of Memphis (Forrest's Raid)
1864Civil War
0.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation) listed on the National Register?

First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 1971.

What type of historic resource is First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation)?

First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation) is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation)?

The period of significance for First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation) is recorded as the early_republic era, specifically around 1839.

Can I research the history near First Baptist Church (Additional Documentation)?

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