The Clarke Street Meeting House (also known as the Second Congregational Church Newport County or Central Baptist Church) is an historic former meeting house and Reformed Christian church building at 13-17 Clarke Street in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. Built in 1735, the structure is listed on 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 ...

History

The meeting house was built in 1735 and served as a worship place for the Second Congregational Church, originally a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

congregation. From 1755 to 1786, Ezra Stiles, a well-known minister who later became president of

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, pastored the church and lived in the

Ezra Stiles House The Ezra Stiles House is an historic house at 14 Clarke Street in Newport, Rhode Island. It is a large -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a gambrel roof and two large interior brick chimneys, built in 1756. Originally built facing ...

across the street. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, British forces occupied the meeting house and minister's house for use as a barracks and hospital from 1776 to 1779. After the war, a committee of Second Church members, including

William Ellery William Ellery (December 22, 1727 – February 15, 1820) was a Founding Father of the United States, one of the 56 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence, and a signer of the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Rho ...

Henry Marchant Henry Marchant (April 9, 1741 – August 30, 1796) was a Founding Father of the United States, an attorney general of Rhode Island, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Rhode Island, a signer of the Articles of Confederation, and the ...

, Robert Stevens and William Channing wrote to

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

in Europe requesting that he contact Reformed congregations there for assistance in repairing the church due to the British army's damage to the building. Adams responded that he would be unable to help because of differences in European attitudes toward soliciting for funds. Regardless of the difficulties, the building was extensively repaired in 1785. The congregation later left the building and merged with Newport's First Congregational Church to become United Congregational Church to which the building was sold in 1835. In 1847 the Central Baptist Society, which broke off from the Second Baptist Church in Newport, purchased and extensively modified the building. The Central Baptist Church later reunited with the Second Baptist Church and then in the 1940s reunited with the First Baptist Church in Newport to form the United Baptist Church. The church's original steeple blew down in the 1938 hurricane. In 1950 St. Joseph's Church of Newport purchased the meeting house and further renovated the structure. The Clarke Street Meeting House was added to the

in 1971. Around the 1980s the structure was converted into condominiums.

Notable congregants

* William Vernon, merchant *

, U.S. District Judge *

, signer of Declaration of Independence

Gallery

File:Central Baptist Church, Newport, R.I LCCN2003654282 (cropped).jpg, Engraving ca. 1879 showing steeple, which was destroyed in the 1938 hurricane File:Second Congregational Church NRHP 71000020 (cropped).jpg, After 1938 hurricane File:INTERIOR FROM THE WEST - Second Congregational Church, 13-17 Clarke Street, Newport, Newport County, RI HABS RI,3-NEWP,71-4.tif, Interior File:Clarke Street in Newport, Rhode Island.jpg, Location on Clarke Street next to the

Artillery Company of Newport The Newport Artillery Company of Newport, Rhode Island was chartered in 1741 by the Rhode Island General Assembly during the reign of King George II of Great Britain. It is the oldest military unit in the United States operating under its origina ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Churches completed in 1735 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island United Church of Christ churches in Rhode Island Churches in Newport, Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places in Newport, Rhode Island 18th-century churches in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Rhode Island

History

Notable congregants

Gallery

See also

References