Walnut Street Baptist Church minutes

This typescript of the congregational minutes of the Walnut Street Baptist Church was transcribed from the original minute books by Mrs. Lewis (Billie) Tincher. The minutes, along with a charter, rules of order and committee reports, run from February, 1848 to November, 1858 -- a very significant period of the church's history.

It was during these years that the congregation was organized and the construction of the Walnut Street Baptist Church at Fourth and Walnut Streets took place. In 1848 the Second Baptist Church of Louisville was formed, then, in 1849 the congregations of the First and Second Baptist Churches merged to form the Walnut Street Baptist Church. The merged congregation voted in November, 1849 to purchase a lot a Fourth and Walnut as the site for building a new church. The completion of the structure, whose majestic clock tower would serve for years as Louisville's "town clock," took place in 1854.

Generally, the congregational meetings dealt with such business as the reception of new members, exclusion of offending members, elections and appointments, and the planning of church activities. Several references can be found to a branch of the Walnut Street Baptist Church called the First Colored Baptist Church of Louisville, a congregation composed of local blacks.

Earlier untranscribed volumes of church minutes, dating back to 1815, are in the custody of the First Christian Church of Louisville, while subsequent volumes remain at the Walnut Street Baptist Church.