First African Baptist Church and Parsonage (Scott County, Kentucky)
Encyclopedia
First African Baptist Church and Parsonage is an historically significant church building and an associated parsonage located in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on West Jefferson Avenue in Georgetown, Kentucky
Georgetown, Kentucky
Georgetown is a city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,098 at the 2010 census. The original settlement of Lebanon, founded by Rev. Elijah Craig, was renamed in 1790 in honor of President George Washington. It is the home of Georgetown College, a private liberal arts...

. In 1842, First Baptist Church moved from their West Jefferson location to a site closer to Georgetown College on College and Hamilton Streets. The church's previous building and property were leased to local black Baptists so a new congregation solely for blacks could be formed. The current building was constructed in 1870. The buildings were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1984.

History

The First Baptist Church congregation in Georgetown, Kentucky was organized in 1811, and its first meeting house erected on West Jefferson Street in 1815. In 1842 Howard Malcom
Howard Malcom
Howard Malcom was an American educator and Baptist minister. He attended Dickinson College and Princeton Theological Seminary. He wrote several accounts of Christian missions in Burma and was pastor of churches in Hudson, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

, the pastor of the church and president of Georgetown College, urged the relocation of the church to a site near the college. The congregation moved from their West Jefferson location to a site on College and Hamilton Streets. The building at the original site was leased to black congregation. G. W. Dupee, a slave, was the first official pastor of the black congregation. Reuben Lee was pastor when the current building was constructed in 1870.

Architecture

The church building has a Gothic style. The original twin doors to accommodate women and men separately entering have been closed on the front facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

and replaced with "a single centered entrance highlighted by three lancet arches".
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