First Baptist Church (Columbia, Missouri)

Columbia was founded in 1818 as the county seat of Boone County. A hallmark of frontier life in the Boonslick was a lack of organized religion.[3] As Columbia was growing into a proper town, it was natural that like-minded thinkers would join together in Christian fellowship. First Baptist Church was organized on 22 November 1823 in the home of Charles Hardin, Sr. on Locust street between 4th and 5th streets, now Flat Branch Park. This was the first brick residence Columbia. The founders were formerly members of Little Bonne Femme Baptist Church south of Columbia who were granted letters of dismiss after a dispute involving William Jewell.[9] The church continued to meet in homes or outside in fair weather until September 1828 when the church met regularly in the Boone County Courthouse until 1836. In 1836 the first dedicated church building was constructed, known at the Union Church, as a cooperative effort between William Jewell, a founder of FBC, and Moses Payne, a Methodist minister, who funded the construction. This building was used for twenty years. A new church building was erected in the 1856 on the grounds of the Boone County Courthouse. The congregation continued to worship here for 35 years. In 1891 the church moved to its current location, purchasing a lot on Broadway next to Stephens College. On this lot was erected a beautiful Victorian Neo-Gothic structure, comp

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