1501 Columbia Road, NW
Thanks to Terry for sending: “Closed for renovations I understand collaborating with another Baptist Church”
“Dates from 1906. President Harding at groundbreaking in 1921 for this neo classical steepled Church at 16th and Columbia Road NW.
The 3 great steeples at the corners of 16th/ Harvard a DC landmark of course.”
National Baptist Memorial Church’s website doesn’t mention the renovations coming here but does provide more history:
“Baptists in the neighborhood were called to an organizational meeting at the Post Office hall on Sunday, January 7, 1906, at 2:30 p.m., and a notice of this meeting was read from area Baptist pulpits on two Sundays, December 17 and 24, 1905. The response was overwhelming, and an unexpectedly large number showed up for the meeting, filling the little hall to its capacity. The next day’s newspaper cited 57 adult attendees and about 100 children, who had come to receive instruction.
An informal song service was held featuring the Pastor of Temple Baptist Church, who was also the Moderator of an organization that became the D.C. Baptist Convention, pastors of three other areas Baptist Churches, and the Dean of George Washington University.
Once the program ended, the children were sent home, as the school was not prepared to hold classes that day, and the adults then got down to business, electing five officers for the new Sunday school, including Percy S. Foster as superintendent. Afternoon classes started the following Sunday, January 14, 1906, and were held until March 25, when the class schedule switched to 9:30 in the morning.
Over time, the bible school resulted in the formation of what is now the National Baptist Memorial Church, which continues to shine as a beacon of hope at the crossroads of life.
Six men met on Friday, December 15, 1905, at a downtown music store to discuss the feasibility of starting a Baptist Bible School in either Mount Pleasant or Columbia Heights to fill a void created by the closing of a nearby Sunday school that had been operated by members of Metropolitan Baptist Church. The men decided to rent a hall over the Post Office at 1413 Park Road for three months.”
Stay tuned.