{"nrhp_refnum":"97000574","name":"First Missionary Baptist Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"819 Cypress St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.11446828900006,"lon":-77.04722003299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival sanctuary of the First Missionary Baptist Church on Cypress Street in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, completed in 1908 on a lot facing Greenwood Cemetery. The congregation was founded in 1869 as Cedar Grove Baptist Church and rebuilt its sanctuary after a 1905 fire.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the church as one of the oldest Black Baptist congregations in New Bern and as a center of education, community life and the Baptist association's early development. It also notes the church's role under Rev. A.L.E. Weeks, its adjoining school, and its use as shelter after the Great Fire of 1922. The architectural argument was withdrawn by amendment, so the listing rests on religious and ethnic heritage significance.","narrative":"Brick sanctuary on Cypress Street in New Bern, completed in 1906 and finished by 1908, after the congregation's earlier building was destroyed by fire in March 1905. The church, founded in 1869 as Cedar Grove Baptist Church, changed its name to First Baptist Church in 1906 and later to First Missionary Baptist Church. Its pastor, Rev. A.L.E. Weeks, led a school called the New Bern Industrial and Collegiate Institute next door, which enrolled about three hundred students in the early 1900s and closed in 1912. The church hosted Booker T. Washington in 1907 and sheltered fire victims in its basement after the Great Fire of 1922 destroyed much of the city's African American section. Its choir gained regional fame in the 1910s and 1920s. In the 1960s the basement housed one of New Bern's first day care centers, which admitted both Black and white children. The building is regarded as central to the history of New Bern's Black Baptist community. It has been closed while restoration funds are raised.","period_of_significance":"1906-1947","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The church has been closed while the congregation raises funds for restoration.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.795816-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/7175/47717533/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97000574.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000574/24d4447680-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000574/24d4447680-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FirstBaptistNewBern_5461.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</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:FirstBaptistNewBern_5461.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"15000956","name":"New Bern Historic District (Boundary Increase II)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/new-bern-historic-district-boundary-increase-ii-15000956/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717533","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Missionary_Baptist_Church_(New_Bern,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5453348"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/first-missionary-baptist-church-97000574/"}