{"nrhp_refnum":"83000668","name":"First Baptist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"200-228 N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fall River","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.705050020000044,"lon":-71.15516385899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival church at 200-228 North Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, built in 1850 to designs by Josiah Brown for the First Baptist congregation.","why_significant":"The nomination holds that the church is a good example of ecclesiastical use of early Gothic Revival style and keeps all its original exterior detail, including window enframements, stone trim and a distinctive wooden extended vestibule. Its mid-19th-century construction also reflects the post-1843 movement of residents from the central village to outlying blocks. It is listed under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1850 at the corner of North Main and Pine Streets in Fall River, this red brick church with wood trim was designed by Josiah Brown, one of the earliest documented architect-builders in the city and a well-known mill architect. The building follows an early Gothic Revival approach, with a regular rectangular plan, a square tower and a wooden extended vestibule under a peaked roof that the nomination calls its most interesting feature. The congregation traces its origins to 1781 and worshipped in several earlier buildings before buying this site in 1850. The church was dedicated on October 23, 1850, and was enlarged at the rear and repaired in 1871. Hurricane Carol destroyed the tower spire and corner finials in 1954, and the brick has since been sandblasted, yet original window enframements and stone trim survive. The church is still used for worship and is valued for its architecture and for reflecting the mid-19th-century growth of neighborhoods beyond the old village center.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Josiah Brown","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a church and described as well maintained; the brick has been sandblasted and the tower spire and corner finials were destroyed by Hurricane Carol in 1954.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.891066-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7894/63789457/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000668.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000668/5358cb7933-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000668/5358cb7933-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_Fall_River.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_Fall_River.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789457","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_(Fall_River,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452384"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/first-baptist-church-83000668/"}