History

This church was built to house the First Baptist Church in America, which was founded by Roger Williams in 1638. On February 11, 1774, members of the Charitable Baptist Society met at the home of Daniel Cahoone and resolved "that we will heartily unite as one man. In all lawful ways and means to promote the good of this society; and particularly attend to and revive the affair of building a meeting house for the public worship of Almighty God and to hold commencement in" (Historic Baptist Meeting House). Joseph Brown was hired as the architect and within only one and a half years the church was built. The construction was aided by the plethora of shipwrights and carpenters who were out of work when the British closed the port of Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The 185-foot steeple was raised in three and a half days in June of 1775. Each section of the steeple was framed on the ground and then hoisted through the lower levels like a telescope. The 80x80-foot building was enormously ambitious considering that it seated 1,200 people--about one third of Providence’s population at the time--yet the congregation only had 50 members. It was dedicated both for "the publick Worship of Almighty GOD and also for holding Commencement in." To this day, Brown University holds its annual Commencement in this church.