Beale Street Baptist Church, also known as, First Baptist Church or Beale Avenue Baptist Church, is a historic church on

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, th ...

, built by a congregation of freed slaves in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. It was designed by the prominent Memphis architectural firm Jones & Baldwin, a partnership between

Edward Culliatt Jones Edward Culliatt Jones (July 21, 1822 – February 12, 1902) was an American architect from Charleston, South Carolina. and A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and two are further designated ...

and Matthias Baldwin. Its foundation stone was laid in 1869, and it was constructed between 1871 and 1885. In the late 1880s, the church also housed the newspaper office of

Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...

, the famous civil rights journalist. Over the years,

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

and

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

made visits to the church. The structure was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971, and was included in an enlargement of the

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

of Beale Street in 1993. Adjacent to the church, a plaza dedicated to Ida B. Wells was established in 2021.

References

External links

* Buildings and structures in Memphis, Tennessee Baptist churches in Tennessee Churches completed in 1885 National Register of Historic Places in Memphis, Tennessee 1885 establishments in Tennessee {{ShelbyCountyTN-geo-stub