First Baptist Church (Davenport, Iowa)

First Baptist Church is located in central Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Calvary Baptist Church/First Baptist Church.HistoryIn 1839 First Baptist Church organized and held its first service in the home of John M. Eldridge on Brady Street. The Rev. Israel Fisher was its first pastor. The charter members were: J. M. Eldridge, Mary Eldridge, John Swartout, Charles Swartout, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Price and Mr. and Mrs. David Wilson. Richard Price and David Wilson were the church’s first deacons.Baptists then occupied a series of buildings in the city. They moved into a room over a store on Front Street, now River Drive. Services were held there until the congregation built a brick structure at the corner of Fourth and Brady Streets on a lot donated by Antoine LeClaire. The congregation met there until they moved into a new building on the corner of Sixth and Main Streets. They sold the Brady Street location to St. Luke's Episcopal Church.In October 1851 sixteen persons who had taken letters from the First Baptist Church met in a school house on Perry Street to organize Second Baptist Church. The first officers of the church were Dr. J. M. Witherwax, C. G. Blood, W. M. Crosson, Levi Davis and J. Solomon.The Second Baptist congregation purchased a house on the northwest corner of Fourth and Perry Streets and held services there. In 1852 they sold this lot and bought one on the southwest corner of Fourth and Perry. A short time later they moved to Third and Brady Streets into a place called the Medical College. That same year the Rev. E.M. Mills joined the community as its pastor. He stayed for five years, and toward the end of his pastorate they built a church building at the corner of Fourth and Perry Streets.