[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE HISTORIC SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH IN 
                  CELEBRATION OF ITS 155TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 4, 2003

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Second Baptist 
Church, the second oldest African American Baptist congregation in the 
District of Columbia, as it prepares to celebrate its 155th anniversary 
on Sunday, November 16, 2003, and its designation as a historic 
landmark in the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites by the 
Historic Preservation Review Board.
  History has documented the critical role African American churches 
have played not only as places of spiritual fortification, but also as 
centers of political activism, and neighborhood preservation. Second 
Baptist Church is a shining example of these functions.
  Second Baptist Church, located at 816 3rd Street, NW., is a 
longstanding anchor of a changing neighborhood north of H Street and 
west of North Capitol Street. Founded in 1848, Second Baptist Church 
was started 14 years before slaves in the District of Columbia were 
freed.
  The church was erected in 1894 and designed by prominent Washington 
architect, Appleton P. Clark, Jr. Second Baptist Church represents a 
revival of the early phase of Gothic church architecture, but rendered 
in late Victorian fashion. The beautiful rose window, square towers and 
rusticated limestone on a granite base are suggestive of Romanesque.
  Second Baptist Church began when seven members of the First Colored 
Baptist Church, now Nineteenth Baptist Church, left to organize the 
Second Colored Baptist Church of Washington City, District of Columbia.
  Second Baptist Church served as a station on the Underground Railroad 
during the Civil War and the preceding years. It was one of the few 
Negro churches in Washington, D.C. that had a black minister prior to 
President Lincoln's Inauguration.
  Second Baptist Church is considered the ``Mother Church'' for the 
Baptist community because from it Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in NW; Mt. 
Olive Baptist Church in NW; Rehoboth Baptist Church in SW; Central 
Baptist Church (later disbanded); St. Paul Baptist Church in 
Bladensburg, MD; Ebenezer and First Baptist in Takoma Park, MD were 
formed.
  During the course of its 155 years, Second Baptist Church has had 
only 15 pastors: Licentiate H.H. Butler--1848; Rev. Jeremiah Asher--
1849; Rev. Gustavus Brown--1850; Rev. Henry Butler--1853; Rev. Sandy 
Alexander--1856; Rev. Caleb Woodward--1861; Rev. John Mays (Maze)--
1864; Rev. Sandy Alexander--1865; Rev. Chauncey Leonard--1868; Rev. 
John Gaines--1869; Rev. Madison Gaskins--1871; Rev. William Bishop 
Johnson--1883; Rev. Dr. J.L.S. Hollowman--1917; Rev. Smalls Bartley--
1971; and Rev. Dr. James E. Terrell--1997 to the present.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the House to join me in saluting Rev. James E. 
Terrell, and the congregation of Second Baptist Church in the District 
of Columbia on the occasion of its 155th anniversary, November 16, 
2003.

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