On the 23rd of June 1836, nine men and sixteen women met in the
house of Mr. Dwight Wheelock, at 117 Winnisummet Street, and with the
advice of an Ecclesiastical Council, organized themselves into a
Christian body to be known as the First Baptist Church in Chelsea.
This was the first Church established in the territory now known as
Chelsea, which was then a modest hamlet of not more than three or
four hundred people. Dwight Wheelock and Southworth Bryant were
chosen deacons.
First Baptist Church – Old Broadway Church,
Broadway and Third St., established 1836 –
moved in 1875 to Central Ave.
For the first year of its history the Church was supplied by
students from Newton Theological Seminary. Reverend Alanson Fish was
the first Pastor. On the day that he was ordained the first
meeting-house was dedicated. Failing health compelled Mr. Fish to
relinquish his work in less than two years.
A second pastor, Reverend William Smith died in less than a year
after his ordination. In November 1841, Reverend J. W. Olmstead
became pastor and served until March, 1846.
Then followed in succession, Reverend J. N. Sykes, Reverend A. J.
Huntington, Reverend A. P. Mason, whose pastorate continued for
thirteen years, Reverend C. J. Baldwin, Reverend John Love, and
Reverend P. W. Bakeman, who has held that office for nearly
thirty-one years.
The Church has occupied four different places of worship in the
seventy-eight years of its history. Its first place of worship was in
Franklin Hall on Chelsea Square, the second was their first
meeting-house built at the corner of Broadway and Third Street., the
third was the noble structure at Central Avenue and Shurtleff
Streets, and the last is the edifice at the corner of Shurtleff and
Bellingham Streets, dedicated on December 26, 1909.
