Bethel Baptist Church

Lacking church facilities in their "North-end" African American neighborhood, Harris and Maria Anderson began to hold lay services in their home about 1904. They built a brush arbor and in 1905 organized the Bethel Baptist Church with the Rev. Joe Wren as its first pastor. The church met in a building relocated to this site in 1906. The congregation erected its first sanctuary here in 1910. It was eventually razed and replaced with a brick church building in 1954. The church has maintained a tradition of pride in its facilities and continues to serve the community. (1993)