About Us: Historical Chronology

1834 • Members (slave and free) of white First Baptist Church gain permission to hold monthly prayer meetings.

1841 • Negro members request worship apart from the whites of First Baptist Church, Nashville.

1847 • October, a separate mission established and called the "First Colored Baptist Mission.

1848 • First Colored Baptist Mission services began in old city schoolhouse (January 1, 1841)

1853 • Nelson G. Merry was ordained as pastor (November 29, 1853)

1865 • First Colored Baptist Church granted independence (August 13, 1865)

1866 • State of Tennessee grants charter to ?First Colored Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennesssee.?(May 25, 1866)

1872 • Entered Building at 319 8th Avenue North.

1885-1887 • Reverend Thomas Huffman, Pastor.

1887-1890 • Reverend M. W. Gilbert, Pastor.

1892-1893 • Reverend J. E. Purdy, Pastor.

1893-1894 • Reverend Harding Smith. Pastor.

1895-1896 • Reverend T. W. Lott. Pastor.

1896-1898 • Reverend A. D. Hurt, Pastor.

1898-1899 • Reverend J. Gardner Ross, Pastor.

1899-1915 • Reverend W. S. Ellington of "Prodigal Son" fame, Pastor.

1916-1917 • Reverend Meredith W. Gilbert, Pastor.

1917-1923 • Reverend S. L. McDowell, Pastor.

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1923-1924 • Reverend T. B. Livingston, Pastor.

1924 • Reverend P. A. Callahan, Pastor.

1929-1944 • Reverend Russell C. Barbour, Pastor.

1944-1946 • Reverend Ralph W. Riley, Supply Minister.

1946-1950 • Reverend Herbert L. B. Wilkins, Pastor.

1951-1984 • Reverend Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., Pastor. Church program reorganized into Ministries. Loyalty Sunday observance inaugurated.

1957 • Dr. -Martin Luther King, Jr., great civil rights activist addressed the
congregation.

1958 - 1963 • Church became the training base and center for sit-in demonstration, which spurred the local Civil Rights Movement.

1965 • Community Baptist Church, under the Reverend Jerome I. Wright pastor, reunited with First Colored Baptist Church; Reverend Wright becomes assistant pastor.

1965 • Centennial celebration, the church name changed to ?First Baptist Church,Capitol Hill.?

1970 • Ground breaking for a new sanctuary.

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1972 • New church edifice at 625 Rosa L. Park Boulevard occupied.

1979 • First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill Homes, Inc., complex for the elderly and handicapped opened.

1981 • Mortgage on the church building retired.

1982 • Pearl Street renamed to honor Nelson G. Merry, first pastor (1853-1884).

1984 • Reverend Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. home going, June 3.
1984 • Reverend Ottie L. West, Interim Pastor.

1985 • Reverend Wallace Charles Smith, Pastor.

1988 • Child Development Day Care Center opens.

1991 • $200,000 to American Baptist College for a Charles Emerson Boddie Chair of Excellence.

1991 • Reverend Ottie L. West, Interim Pastor.

1992 • Reverend Sherman R. Tribble, Pastor.

1993 • Ennix-Jones Center opens.

1995 • Church Endowment Fund initiated to honor Deacon Barbara Harris.

1998 • Congregation ends contract with pastor, and forms pastoral search committee. Reverend Arrold Martin serves as interim pastor.

2000 • The Reverend Victor Michael Singletary selected as pastor.

2001 • October, First Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. Prayer Breakfast by OIC

2002 • Church approves renovation plans

2004 • Renovation Construction began in August

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