Saturday, March 28, 2015

The First Baptist Church of Warrensburg

The First Baptist Church of Warrensburg was organized in a Masonic Hall in 1847 with ten charter members including the Revs. Jerry Farmer, D.W. Johnson, WPC Caldwell and Amos Horn.  The church was disbanded during the Civil War and reorganized again in 1867.  In 1881 a brick building was erected on the southwest corner of Holden and Gay.  This served until 1904 when it was removed and the structure pictured below was built.




By the 1970s, membership had grown so large that Minister Dr. Earl Harding published a booklet complaining that, “... the overflowing condition of the departments and classes shows the impossibility of caring for our membership with our present Sunday School facilities… God is challenging us to march forward by faith and expand our program for greater service.”  


One of the pictures included in the booklet was similar to this from the Simmon's Studio collection showing the choir crowded together in front of the organ with the explanation, “Our beautiful choir has no suitable space in which to rehearse and to store their vestments and music.”

When the new Baptist Church on the corner of Hale Lake Road and Mcguire was finished in 2002, this old church was torn down to make way for the Johnson County Justice Center.

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