A Brief History of the First Baptist Church of Royal Oak

In December 1838, a small group of people who were, or had been, members of Baptist churches in Troy, Mendon, and Bloomfield, met in the frame school house at the northwest corner of Lincoln and Main Street to organize a Baptist church in Royal Oak. They completed the organization on January 19, 1839, and adopted the church covenant on February 12, 1839.

Although the “Panic of 1839” and the Depression that followed until 1841 brought many challenges,” these faithful Baptists were determined to build a church. In August 1839, they dedicated the first church building in the village of Royal Oak on the northwest corner of Main and Third, at a cost of $700.

After using this original building for 36 years, the Baptists decided to sell it to the German Evangelical Lutherans for $800. In 1914, the Village of Royal Oak bought it for the town hall, and when the City of Royal Oak was incorporated in 1921 the building became the first City Hall. It was donated to the Royal Oak Woman’s Club in 1922 and moved to Second and Lafayette, and a few years later to its present location at Pleasant and Fourth. Thus, after many transitions, the core of the Royal Oak Woman’s Club building is the “first” First Baptist Church of Royal Oak.

Our tenth minister was a strong-minded individual named Silas Finn. He planned a new church, dedicated in 1876, on land donated by one of the members, Athalinda Phelps, at Main and University. Finn was a farmer and a carpenter, and he and his sons did most of the construction on the unique Greek Cross Church which became a community landmark. He served as minister for 24 years, and tradition has it that he received no pay for his services. In his early years, he built the congregation into a strong force in the community.

In Rev. Finn’s later years, however, the membership dwindled. By 1881 there were only 25 members and in 1885 the record book states “no preaching except at funerals.” When Rev. Finn left in 1897, Anna B. Quick was determined that the church would not die. She drove her horse from her farm in Troy to the old Greek Cross Church every Sunday and held Sunday School for the neighborhood children. She also called an “official” annual meeting each year to preserve the state charter.

In 1907 the first electric railway came from Detroit as far as Royal Oak bringing new life to the community and new members to the church. Following World War I, the community and the church continued to grow. The deteriorating Greek Cross Church was demolished in 1916 and a frame Tabernacle was erected as a temporary church. A new brick Sanctuary was dedicated in 1921 and the Tabernacle continued to serve as Sunday School and dining room.

From 1939 to 1949, both the community and the church witnessed dramatic growth. As the City of Royal Oak’s population increased from 25,000 to 40,000, membership at our church grew from 775 to 1200 as well. The growing Sunday School, with a 1949 enrollment of more than 700, required larger meeting spaces. An Educational Building was built in 1951, including a fine church library.

As the culmination of the celebration of our 125th Anniversary, the present sanctuary was dedicated. Prices had gone up since the first church: the 1965 building cost $475,000. The ceremony to celebrate the burning of the mortgage was held in November 1980, with Mrs. Charles (Carrie) Benedict, one of the oldest members, putting the match to the paper.

Tracing the travels of this congregation from Lincoln and Main, to Third and Main, to University and Main, you see the significance of the slogan chosen by the 150th Anniversary Committee: The Message on Main Street for a Century and a Half. Today the church is known not only as First Baptist, but as The Church On Main Street as well.

The reason we know so much about the early years of our church is that the minutes of each monthly Covenant Meeting were handwritten in a lined notebook, in ink that has lasted over the years. Besides the minutes, the book contains the Covenant adopted February 12, 1839 and lists the members admitted and dismissed from 1839 to 1857. We owe a great debt to the conscientious souls who cared for this precious book and handed it from clerk to clerk. It apparently ended up in the Finn family, and Silas’ son, Albert H. Finn, gave it to the safekeeping of the Burton Historical Library in Detroit in the 1920’s. The Library loaned it to us for display during our 150th Anniversary Year. The 150th Anniversary Committee had a copy made to be kept as part of our permanent historical files.