First Baptist Church, Portland

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First Baptist Church, Portland is an American Baptist Church located in downtown Portland. It was officially recognized on May 6th, 1855 in the County Courthouse of Portland. The first church building was built on Alder Street between Fourth ad Fifth Avenue in Portland on land bought by church members Hezekiah Johnson, Ezra Fisher and David Lenox. The first building was completed in 1870. After substantial church growth the congregation decided to move into a bigger space. The first building was sold in 1892 and another lot was bought on Taylor Street between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenue. Warren Hayes, a church specialist from Minneapolis, MN was employed as the architect, and he used a Romanesque revival style of architecture to the building. Construction began in 1892 and was completed in 1894. The church meets at this location to this day.

History

Origin

In 1850 Hezekiah Johnson, riding a buckskin pony, with missionary, Ezra Fisher, and a layman, David Lenox of Tualatin Plains, came to Portland to bargain with S. Coffin over four lots in a cleared space near the Willamette River at the edge of the woods. It was later to become the half block between SW Fourth and Fifth Avenue on Alder Street.

There is dispute over whether the price was one dollar or the exchange of the Johnson's buckskin pony, but whatever the consideration, the deed to the lots was sold to the trio. The land was to be held against the day when there would be a First Baptist Church in Portland.

In September, 1854 Baptist pastor, Rev. W. F. Boyakin, and his family arrived in Portland. Just a month after Rev. Boyakin arrived, on October 26, 1854, those interested in forming a church met at the home of Josiah Failing.

At the first meeting, four resolutions were proposed and approved:

• First, a Baptist interest should be started in Portland.
• Second, the American Baptist Home Mission Society should be asked to assist.
• Third, Rev. Boyakin was to be called pastor for a period of one year.
• And fourth, Josiah Failing, H. S. Pine, and Alonzo Leland were appointed to a committee to carry out meeting plans. David Lenox was chairman, and Alonzo Leland, secretary.

On May 6th, 1855 in the newly completed County Courthouse First Baptist Church of Portland was publicly recognized as a church. Soon after Rev. Boyakin left Portland and membership dwindled. At one point only three members met regularly. In 1860 Rev. Samuel Cornelius moved from San Francisco to Portland and became the installed pastor. From the founding of FBC, Portland in 1855 until 1862, services, prayer meetings and other functions were held in rented halls or in members’ homes.

Alder Street Building

The cornerstone for the first building on SW Fourth Avenue and Alder Street was laid in May of 1861 and by January 1862 the basement was completed. For the next eight years, the congregation worshiped in a “hole in the ground” because the building was not completed. During this period, Rev. Cornelius resigned.

In the two year interval, efforts were made to secure a pastor, but it was not until the summer of 1866 that a letter was received from the Home Mission Society asking if the church would like to have for its pastor the Rev. E.C. Anderson. On December 26, 1866 Rev. Anderson was installed.

On the first Sunday in January 1867, five years after the first occupation of the Fourth Avenue and Alder Street building, the basement room was again opened and Mr. Anderson preached the first sermon to First Baptist. The church building was finally completed in 1970 and Dr. Anderson remained until 1871.

Taylor Street Building

Over the next few decades the church saw greater growth as the territory and later the state of Oregon also experienced growth. Other pastors came and went. Around 1890 First Baptist began to contemplate newer and larger quarters. In 1892 the Alder Street building was sold for $150,000 and the half block on Taylor Street between 11th and 12th Avenue was acquired from John Honeymoon for $52,500.

Henry Failing, twice mayor of Portland, was chairman of the building committee. $125,000 was set aside for the construction of this building, and Warren Hayes, a specialist in church design from Minneapolis, MN was employed as architect. He had already designed 100 churches at the time. Construction began in 1892 and was completed in 1894. Hayes designed the church in a style known as Romanesque revival, strongly influenced by H.H. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston. The building is unique in Portland where most churches of the time were designed in some form of Gothic. From its completion in 1894 to the present, First Baptist Church has held worship, meetings, and education classes at this Taylor Street location.

In 1941 another wing, the Christian Education Building, was added to the Taylor Street building to house education classes and meeting spaces. It's entrance on SW Eleventh Avenue became the office entrance to the church.

Building features

The Taylor Street building for many years was referred to as the White Temple because of the pale color of the sandstone. The dark stone of the basement is from Rocky Butte, and the high quality sandstone is from Washington.

The two large round columns in the main entry on Taylor Street were cut from a single piece of highly polished granite found by church member, Nels Blagen.

All of the stained glass in the doors, transoms, and small windows are the products of the well-known Povey Bros. Glass Company of Portland. They were done and installed during the original construction. The windows in the sanctuary are Paul on Mars Hill (1910) designed by Henry Holiday of England, Paul Saying Farewell to the Ephesians (1912), Communion of the Apostles (1930) designed by the Gerlach Company of Portland, and the Nativity Window (1931) made by the England firm of Heaton, Butler, and Bayne. In the last commission it was asked that halos not be shown on the holy family because that did not fit a Baptist church.

Pastors

The following is a list of senior pastor who were installed at First Baptist Church, Portland:

1. W. J. Boyakin 1855-1856
2. Samuel Cornelius 1860-1864
3. E. C. Anderson DD 1866-1871
4. Harry Taylor 1871
5. A. R. Medbury 1872-1874
6. D. J. Price DD 1874-1877
7. A. S. Coats 1877-1880
8. John A. Gray 1880-1883
9. J. Q. A. Henry 1884-1888
10. John Gordon 1888-1891
11. Roland D. Grant 1892-1896
12. Alexander Blackburn 1897-1904
13. J. Whitcomb Brougher DD 1904-1910
14. Walter B. Hinson DD 1910-1915
15. C. A. Waller DD 1916-1918
16. William A. Waldo DD 1918-1920
17. Thomas J. Villers 1922-1932
18. William G. Everson DD 1933-1939
19. Weldon M. Wilson DD 1939-1941
20. Ralph C. Walker DD 1941-1952
21. Weldon M. Wilson DD 1952-1959
22. J. Lester Harnish DD 1959- 1967
23. A. John Nastori 1969-1973
24. Paul W. Kopp DD 1974-1977
25. Roland L. Johnson DD 1978-2001
26. Dan Ivans 2003-2004
27. David Wheeler 2007-

References

This article "First Baptist Church, Portland" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:First Baptist Church, Portland. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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