First Baptist Church in America - Providence - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

The story of this church congregation begins with Roger Williams, one of the thousands of Puritans who departed from England in the 1630's to escape religious and political repression at the hands of the King and the Church of England. Williams believed that church and state should be separate and when he found that the New World Puritans were combining the two he founded the colony of Providence. Providence had complete separation of church and state. These founding principles were so powerful that subsequent settlers in Rhode Island adopted them. When all other colonies had established churches and religious requirements or disabilities, Rhode Island had none.

The church has continuously met since 1638 and this current building is the congregation's third location in Providence. Built in 1774 to 1775, it was the largest building project in New England at that time. The building, 80 by 80 feet, seated 1,200 people, equal to one third of Providence's population then. The construction was greatly aided by the fact that the British had closed the port of Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Many shipwrights and carpenters were thrown out of work and came to Providence to build the meetinghouse. The structure was dedicated in May 1775 and the 185 foot steeple was added shortly thereafter. This was the first Baptist meetinghouse in New England to have a steeple. The steeple went up in three and a half days, and it has survived time and hurricanes since then.

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