FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH F 411 Market Street
Architect Samuel Sloan designed both
the Moorish Revival Temple of Israel at the
corner of Market and Fourth streets and the
Gothic Revival architecture of First Baptist
Church, articulated in red brick. In keep-ing
with the Neo Gothic Style, the church
features crenulated parapets, buttressed walls
and limestone banding.
The Western Tower replicates the Eastern
Tower that soars to 197 feet. The slate steeple
is perforated with gabled shutters for ventila-tion
to prevent the tower from toppling. In
an average wind it has been reported to sway
between eight and ten inches.
First Baptist’s original congregation was
organized in 1808 and known as Front Street
Baptist Church. Construction on its current
early English Gothic structure at Fifth and
Market streets began in 1860 but completion
was delayed until 1870 because of the Civil
War. Tons of discarded ship ballast from
Cape Fear River vessels line the sanctuary’s
foundation.
During the yellow fever epidemic that killed
about 450 people in three months in 1862,
First Baptist’s pastor, the Rev. John Pritchard,
and the rector of St. James Episcopal, the
Rev. Robert Drane, died of the disease.
Its dark wood sanctuary has kneelers,
usually associated with more liturgical worship
services, because its early congregants knelt for
prayer, church records reveal. Its pews have
dividers of varying lengths because in the early
life of the church, pews were rented yearly for
between $5 and $500 depending on the size
of the family. The Temple of Israel’s pew
boxes are fabricated with the same decorative
carvings as those found at First Baptist.
First Baptist planted nine area churches
and was represented at the founding of the
Southern Baptist Convention, though the
church has now switched affiliations to the
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
According to Tony Wrenn, author
of “Wilmington North Carolina: An
Architectural and Historical Portrait,” once
the tallest spire in the United States, First
Baptist’s signature 197-foot steeple was
struck down during Hurricane Fran in 1996.
The church rebuilt the tower to its original
height. The walls at its base are more than
three feet thick.
First Baptist Church anchors the corner of Market and Fifth streets directly opposite
the Kenan Fountain roundabout.
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