{"nrhp_refnum":"90001026","name":"Zion Baptist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"149 Haynes St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marietta","county":"Cobb County","state":"GA","lat":33.95507943800004,"lon":-84.54736563499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-07-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Zion Baptist Church is a red-brick Gothic-inspired church building at 149 Haynes Street in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia. The brick was applied in 1888 over an earlier wooden church, and a bell tower was added in 1897.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the oldest black Baptist church building in Marietta, built by a congregation of newly freed people who left a white congregation in 1866. It is also a good example of a wooden church bricked over, with Gothic-style pointed windows and a built-in baptismal pool typical of Baptist churches.","narrative":"Zion Baptist Church is a red-brick church at 149 Haynes Street in Marietta, a block north of the county government complex. Its congregation formed in 1866, when 88 Black members received letters of dismissal from the First Baptist Church of Marietta. They bought a 40-by-60-foot lot in 1867 and worshipped in a wooden church that was damaged by fire and then bricked over, with a cornerstone dated 1888. A bell tower followed in 1897, and a vestibule, electricity and a furnace were added in later decades. Inside are plaster walls, a vaulted wood-slat ceiling, hand-carved pews and a baptismal pool behind the choir. The pointed-arch windows give the plain building its Gothic character. It is considered the oldest surviving Black Baptist church building in Marietta, and it reflects the community institutions freed people created after the Civil War. The congregation built a new church across Lemon Street in 1978, and restoration of the old building as a museum is planned.","period_of_significance":"1888-1940","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The congregation built a new church in 1978 and used the old building for Sunday school until the furnace failed in 1979. The old church awaits restoration as a museum and meeting place; the form also describes the church as still active.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.210645-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/90001026.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001026/920915e1b1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001026/920915e1b1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"RudyTravis","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zion_Baptist_Church,_Marietta.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">RudyTravis</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zion_Baptist_Church,_Marietta.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207618","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_Baptist_Church_(Marietta,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q94577627"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/cobb-county/zion-baptist-church-90001026/"}