First Baptist Meetinghouse - Providence, Rhode Island - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The First Baptist Meeting-House, N. Main St. bet. Waterman and Thomas Sts., is architecturally and historically one of the most famous buildings in New England. Its tall, white spire rises now amid a conglomeration of later structures, but its wide lawns and elevated site still suggest the crowning position it held in early Providence. Joseph Brown merchant, astronomer, philosopher, and one of Rhode Island's famous amateur architects designed the building, and the construction was supervised by James Sumner of Boston. The spire, rising from its base above the clock tower, is the only part of the building not original, for its design was copied from a plan made by James Gibbs, an English architect whose 'Book of Architecture, Designs and Ornaments' was in the possession of Joseph Brown. It remains a remarkable piece of workmanship, a tribute to Brown's taste and Sumner's ability. The first stage is square and open, adorned with coupled Ionic pilasters with arched opening, entablature, and pediment on each side while the octagonal second and third stages have arched windows and are adorned with Corinthian pilasters. Vase ornaments at the angles, proportionally smaller at each stage, minimize the effect of the set-backs. The proportionate height of the stages and their transition from square to octagon is very ably treated.

The spire rests on a projecting square tower with a modillioned cornice and wooden quoins at the corners like those of the main structure. A slightly projecting pedimented pavilion, at the base of the tower, with a small pedimented portico, forms the entrance motif in the west end, the principal facade. Above the Doric portico is a palladian window of rather stilted proportions. The body of the building is 80 feet square, and has the unusual feature of two tiers of round-headed windows. The roof is low-pitched and the aspect of the building, because of its squareness, is one of comfort, spaciousness, and great dignity. The all-white interior is trimmed in wood. The vaulted ceiling, five bays in length, is supported by two rows of fluted Tuscan columns.

The church was built by the first Baptist society in America (founded in 1639). In 1775 the Reverend James Manning, lately come to Providence as head of the institution later to be called Brown University, consented to preach to this congregation and plans were immediately set afoot to erect a building 'for the publick worship of Almighty God; and also for holding Commencement in,' a dual function which it has fulfilled ever since. Steeples with bells were frowned upon by the Baptist fellowship in 1775, but the Providence congregation erected one nevertheless. In the steeple hung a bell bearing this inscription:

For freedom of conscience the town was first planted, Persuasion not force, was used by the people: This church is the eldest and has not recanted, Enjoying and granting bell, temple and steeple.

The original bell, four inches thick, is still in use although it has been recast several times.

During the Great Gale of 1815, when lesser structures were swept away, this sturdy church edifice held firm; the tall spire 'wavered and bent to the blast, but it fell not.' Some modifications have been made, such as the installation of an organ in a rear balcony formerly occupied by slaves, but such changes are few and great care has been taken in the building's preservation.