The First Baptist Church is a historic church building in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The church was built in 1903 and was the first church building for the African-American population of Muskogee County. It was built in a Romanesque Revival style. It features two asymmetrical, crenelated towers and a steeply pitched gabled roof. The building is clad in two types of red brick. The two types of brick are separated by a rusticated limestone belt course. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for architectural significance and for its importance in local African-American history.
First Baptist "evolved from a mission school founded in 1877 for blacks and Indians". It is one of four churches included in the Black Protestant Churches of Muskogee Theme Resource study.[2]
Muskogee had a "thriving" black community with a business district of "several retail stores, physicians and attorneys offices, a black-owned bank, and a black newspaper, the Muskogee Cimeter."[2] The population included 7,831 blacks in 1910 (31% of the total Muskogee population).[2]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c Bryan Brown (February 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission: Black Protestant Churches in Muskogee TR" (pdf). National Park Service. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
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