Church on Sunday: Hands to work

The First Baptist Church at Main and Henry gets a new roof.

The workers appear to be hired hands, unlike those who originally built the church in 1894. First Baptist was founded as Lexington African Baptist Church in 1867, by the black membership of Manly Memorial (then Lexington Baptist) who wished to form their own congregation after the war.

It is said that they surveyed the church architecture in town and in that way put together a design for the building. All of the original construction work is reported to have been performed by the parishioners themselves, a feat that is especially impressive from this angle.