“This is not the end, it’s just the beginning. God is
going to give this church one more sunny day.”
In the first sermon inside this church in decades, the words
spoken by Rev. Dr. Bruce Rose give you goosebumps. Even if you don’t know much
about the incredible history of this modest-sized house of worship.
You’ve probably heard about the remarkable preservation
story behind French Lick Springs Hotel and West Baden Springs Hotel. So what’s
a church have to do with that? Well, it has historic ties to our resort hotels,
and now, this church is putting the finishing touches on a remarkable
preservation story of its own. As the volunteers who’ve rallied this project
like to say, they’re “re-ringing the bell” of this last Black heritage
structure that still remains in this area.
The sign on the exterior — First Baptist Church (Colored),
Est. 1909 — tells of a church whose history took shape in a very different era.
It began in the early 1900s, when Black workers came to this area to
be cooks, waiters, porters, maids and bellmen at the hotels. With this being the era of segregation,
West Baden Springs Hotel owner Lee Sinclair realized how important it was for
these folks to have a place of worship to call their own. Sinclair donated the
land for their use in 1909. It took until 1920 for a church to actually be
built on this site just down the road from Sinclair’s hotel, but it became home
for regular worship every Sunday.
Decades later, as the area’s Black population slowly
dwindled, and the church eventually closed. But now the church is finding a second life
thanks to a group of volunteers from Bloomington who took on this passion project.
(Click
here for a prior blog with more of the church’s history and how they got involved.)
They had their first Sunday worship service here a few weeks ago, and the hope is to have regular services eventually along with community-oriented events. So stay tuned for that. For now, if you're interested in seeing the church for yourself, it's part of the
"Home and History for the Holidays" tour this Sunday (December 12) put on by the French Lick West Baden Museum.
How about a peek inside?
Several features are original to the 1920 structure, including the wooden pews and stained glass windows. The pews got a fresh coat of paint and padded seating surface. Individual members of the local historical society (which owned the church before turning it over to the group leading the restoration) paid to have the windows restored.
The church's original pump organ could not be restored in its entirety, so they saved individual pieces of the instrument and turned it into this cool display at the front of the church. Bessie Pollard, the woman pictured, was the church's organist.
The pulpit and chairs are also original features that were preserved. This stained glass window in the background is new. The stained glass that was once in this same spot was moved to a mini-museum in the back of the church (below).
Along with this original stained glass, there are photos and relics from the original First Baptist Church as well as the former African Methodist Episcopal Church in neighboring French Lick.
Inside the front entrance are names and photos of some of the church's original members. Above this foyer area, the church's original bell tower was preserved as well.
Hard to believe you could once stand inside these walls and see outside, because the walls were bowed and the beams weakened by a fire. This church formerly had a spot on Indiana's list of 10 most endangered historic buildings. Now, it's living to see another sunny day thanks to the latest great save in West Baden.
