Lexington Baptist Church

From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH

In the year of 1898 Columbus Shields and his wife Eliza Ann sold land to the trustees of the Baptist Church to build a new structure. The trustees were Martin Hart, Stephen Lowry and Andrew J. Robbins and the cost of the lot was $400.00. The lot was located along forty-six feet of Walnut Street and ninety feet of Mulberry Street. There is no record of the workmen and the cost of the white frame building.

Due to the close proximity of the Kimberlin Baptist Church only two miles from Lexington this new church functioned only a brief time. After the church was disbanded, part of the membership went to the Kimberlin Baptist Church while others chose the Presbyterian and Christian Churches of Lexington.

The building, bought by Thomas Loftus, was later used as a community center. when the community's school building was torn down to make way for the 1921 building, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades were held in this building. Jacob Epply taught the seventh and eighth grades; Myrtle Huffman the fifth and sixth grades. Later basketball games were held in the building. Following one of these games the structure caught fire from an over-heated stove and burned down.

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