{"nrhp_refnum":"89000178","name":"First Baptist Church","other_names":["Leaksville Baptist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"538 Greenwood St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Eden","county":"Rockingham County","state":"NC","lat":36.49529982200005,"lon":-79.76356157399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-03-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival church at 538 Greenwood Street in Eden (formerly Leaksville), Rockingham County, North Carolina, finished in 1886, with later brick additions from 1934, 1937 and 1960, on a 4.2-acre hilltop site.","why_significant":"It is the only surviving nineteenth-century Gothic Revival building in Eden and displays fine brick craftsmanship and Stick style decoration. Its stylish design and site beside the 1883 railroad reflect postwar economic recovery and industrial growth. It houses the first missionary Baptist congregation in Rockingham County, founded in 1839. The 1934 and 1937 additions are considered compatible with the original building.","narrative":"Set on a wooded hilltop in Eden, North Carolina, this brick church was completed in 1886 for a Baptist congregation founded in 1839, the first missionary Baptist congregation in Rockingham County. The original building is a clipped-corner square with a hipped roof, intersecting gables decorated in wooden Stick style, lancet windows and a Gothic belfry with a pointed steeple. Brick additions in Colonial Revival style followed in 1934 and 1937, and a separate annex was built in 1960. The church is the only surviving nineteenth-century Gothic Revival building in Eden. Its site beside railroad tracks laid in 1883 and its fashionable, costly brick design reflect the area's recovery and industrial growth after the Civil War. The congregation spent well above its initial budget to build it. It is thought to be the work of local builder James Monroe Hopper, and it closely resembles a Durham church of 1888 that has since been destroyed.","period_of_significance":"1886","architect_builder":"Hopper, J. M. (attributed)","architectural_style":"Gothic (Gothic Revival with Stick style decoration)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a church; the original 1886 building retains its exterior integrity, and the 1960 annex is noncontributing because of its date.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.83659-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7219/47721986/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89000178.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000178/dee277e884-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000178/dee277e884-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_(Eden).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Baptist_Church_(Eden).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721986","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_(Eden,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452379"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/rockingham-county/first-baptist-church-89000178/"}