Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church of Natchez, Mississippi traces its origins as far back as 1837 in a shared legacy with First Baptist Church and later Wall Street Baptist Church, two predominantly white congregations in Natchez in 1850. It is however recognized as the oldest organized black Baptist congregation in Mississippi and the oldest African American church in Natchez. A deed filed in the Adams County Courthouse in 1858 documented a separate Baptist chapel for enslaved blacks under the auspices of the Wall Street Baptist Church. The church probably derived its name from the 12-acre Rose Hill estate that was destroyed by the Union Army during the Civil War. The former enslaved people in the area adopted the name Rose Hill for the community in its vicinity. In 1908, trouble arose. A fire caused by a gas explosion from the nearby Natchez Drug Company completely destroyed the wood frame building and many other buildings with wood shingle roofs in the northern part of the city. With a strong commitment to rebuild their most prized spiritual, social, and political institution, parishioners built an even “grander” structure with stained-glass windows and modeled it in the late Victorian Gothic Revival style. The choice of the Gothic Revival style reflected the wide popularity of that architecture among early 20th century African American worshippers in Mississippi. In addition, the church installed a Moller organ in 1912 that became affiliated with the Organ Historical Society. - blackpast.org/aah/rose-hill-missionary-baptist-church-natchez-mississippi-1854
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 15:55:34 +0000
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