Historic First Baptist Church / Root of Black History in Pacific / After a Five-Year Rebuild, a New Life

Even though the restoration has lagged into the sixth year, no discussion of Black History in Pacific would be complete without the story of Historic First Baptist Church, 421 South First Street.

This small frame strucure, built in the path of recurring floods, has been the home church of a series of Black leaders who inspired and championed a close-knit community of Black citizens for six generations.

At least five times, the building was damaged beyond what some thought was worth rebuilding, in the floods of 1915, 1948, 2008, 2015, and 2016.

In 2016, a group of business owners, Norbert Gildehaus, Benton Kelley and Brad Reed, and a friend of the pastor Bob Masson, formed a committee to save the flood damaged structure one more time. 

For me, as a history enthusiast, I see that Historic First Baptist represents the heart and soul of Pacific’s Black population.

The congregation was started in 1874, only nine years after the Civil war, in an earlier church building on Central Street.

In 1894, King William Adams and his wife Mary, former slaves, bought the lots the church now occupies. The seller was white real estate and insurance company owner Charles Clay “C.C.” Close, who had bought the lots on the court house steps, sold them to Adams for $1 more than he paid, and took a mortgage on the property that allowed Adams to pay it off at $10 a year.

That same year, at the 1894 Democratic committee meeting, held at Leber Hall on St. Louis Street, King and Mary’s son James was nominated for constable, “by acclamation,” with a slate of white candidates. The Democrats were defeated in the general election but the local newspaper heralded James Adams as a man of distinction. 

Jesse Adams, another of King and Mary’s sons, would be the next Black man to buy property in Pacific. Also, with the help of C.C. Close, Jesse Adams bought a house near Historic First Baptist, where he and his wife Lillian raised 11 children.

Mary Adams died in 1911. King William Adams died in his son Jesse’s house in 1935 with his two eldest granddaughters Blanche and Ella at his side. By that time the neighborhood around the church had filled up with members of the congregation.

By the time the Rev. Monroe Ewing arrived in 1930 the church was the center of the Black community. He would pastor the church for twenty-four years, residing in a parson’s residence on the property. Rev. Ewing’s grandson, Irv Ewing, Robertsville, recalled living with his grandfather between ages five and ten in the house that sat beside the church on South First Street. 

A granddaughter, Ernestine Lucado Burnett, who lived on South First Street with her grandparents from age three to 15, recalled the Ewings had a barn and out buldings where they kept animals.

“They always had Guineas,” she said. “And they kept a huge garden with corn, string beans and pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, yams and Irish potatoes. My grandmother did a lot of canning and Grandfather made wine. It was an active place.” 

Ernestine and her brother had bicycles and skates and could ride down First Street, along Pacific Street to the alley, around the barn and garden and back to First Street, where they could skate on the sidewalk.

The church congregation was small when Burnett lived with her grandparents but it was the social hub of the black community. The Ewings had socials where they invited other churches to attend. They celebrated homecoming days and friends of families days with dinners on the lawn. Pastor Ewing was 94 when he passed away in 1954. 

Pastors who served after pastor Ewing, were Rev. Bogan in 1954, Rev. Chappell in 1961 and Bro. Edwards in 1965. It was during Brother Edwards’ time at First Baptist that a new addition was built onto the church. Pastor Meriwether became pastor in 1980. Followed by Bro. Jimmy Glass, and Bro. Dale Glass. After being closed for approximately twelve years, Elder James L. Perkins became pastor of Historic First Baptist in February  2004. 

Pastor Perkins congregation held a series of fundraisers and attracted work parties to make repairs to the aging structure, adding a new roof, carpet, furnaces, doors, and insulation. Under Pastor Perkins leadership, Historic First Baptist became a more modern institution, developing a web page and offering ministerial classes. 

In May 2, 2015, ten individuals completed a one-year Elite Ministerial Christian Training class at the church. The graduates were David Offord, Thomas Glass, Jr, Mitzi Glass, Gabrielle Moore, Sean Moore, Jacqueline Waller, Shavar Ingram, James Perkins, Dale Polmonari and Reginald Moore. 

In the spring of 2015 the church hosted the Fifth Community Sunday Fellowship Service, that combined the congregations of four other historic Black churches, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Robertsville; Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Villa Ridge; Robertsville Temple COGIC, Robertsville and Pacific Temple COGIC, Pacific. 

The late, Rosalind Moore Jordan, daughter of the Rev. John Moore and his wife Emma Moore, a great-great granddaughter of King Adams, started a preschool in the Historic First Baptist annex that she operated for five years until the flood of 2008 destroyed the interior of both church sanctuary and education building. 

The congregation and a group of volunteers restored the damaged church. Again after the flood of 2015 the small congregation rallied to restore the church

In 2016 when the church floodd one month after repairs from the previous flood were competed, some members thought it was time to give up, raze the church and education building and place a marker on the site to prove that it had been there. But Gildehaus, Kelley, Reed and Masson thought the community would want to preserve Historic First Baptist, not only as a historic landmark, but as a cultural institution that tells the Black experience in Pacific. Pastor James Perkins and Assistant Pastor Shavar Ingram joined the committee as a historic advisors and supporter. Throughout the restoration, Historic First Baptist Deacon Loyed Pruitt and his wife Tammy assisted with fundraising and restoration efforts.

Pastor Perkins did not live to see his precious church re-open. He died in 2020.

In 2021, as the restoration continued, the Reverend Robert Lee Stevenson Jr, a resident of Florissant, accepted the pastorship of the church and joined the fundraising effort. Pastor Stevenson formerly served as associate pastor of Rose Hill Missionary Chruch and was well known by members of the community. 

Now, five and one half years after the restoration project began, Historic First Baptist is receiving indoor finishing necessary to reopen for service. This week interior insulation was installed – a luxury the former bare bones sanctuary never had. Next the drywall will be installed by a local church and after that another group of volunteers will paint the walls and the restoration group will replace the floors.

“The project has taken lot longer than we thought it would when we started, said Gildehaus. “But it will be rebuilt better than it was, and it will be out or harms way of future floods.

“We all think about the history of that building,” Gildehaus said. “But this project has been as much about our community today as it has been about history. It’s been about who helps out. I mean, the entire community and friends from far outside our city – businesses, residents, churches, civic groups, biker clubs and labor groups – came together to make it right.”

“Thanks to all those people, Historic First Baptist will be with us for another hundred years.”