Form No. 10-3OO REV. (9/77)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER. OF TIISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY .. NOMINATION FORM

SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMSTYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS

QfE.ilrY^lrFESr\.frMr,

Hrsronrc Li bertY Bapti st Church

ANO/OR COMMON

R NPS USE ONLY

SprocnrroNSTREET & NUMBER 701 Oak Street

-NOT FOR PUBLICATION

CITY, TOWN CONG RESSIONAL DISTRICTEvansvi I I e

- VICINITY OF

STATE COU NTYVanderburoh

CODE.|63Indi ana

fficrassrFlcATIoNCATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS

-Drsrnrcr _puBLrc {-occuereovvABUILDING(S} ^PNIVATC UNOCCUPIED

-STRUCTURE _BOTH -WORK

IN PROGRESS

-srrE puBltc acoutslrioru ACCESSTBLE

-OBJECT -tN pROCESS _yES: RESTRTCTED

-BEING CONSIDERED

-YES: UNRESTRICTED

_NO

NAME- Liberty Baptist Church CongregationSTREET & NUMBER

701 Oak Street

PRESENT USE_AGBICULTURE *MUSEUM

-COMMERCIAL _PARK

-EDUCATIONAL _PRIVATE RESIDEI\

-ENTERTATNMENT J.nEr-rcrous

-GOVERNMENT -SCIENTIFIC

-INOUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATIOI

-MILITARY _OTHER:

CITY. TOWN

Evansvi I I eSTATE

Indiana 47713_ vtctNtTY oF

ffirocarroN oF T.EGAL DESCRTPTToNCOU RTHOUSE,REGTsTRvoFDEEDS'Erc. Vanderburgh COunty ReCordefSTREET& NUMBER

City - County BuildingCITY, TOWN

Evansv'i I I eSTATE

Ind'iana 47708

ffi nEnnEsENTATroN rN ExrsrrNc suRVEys

none

_FEDERAL _STATE _COUNTY _LOCALDEPOSITORY FOR

SURVEY RECOROS

CITY, TOWN STATE

fi nuscnrpnciNCONDITION

-EXCELLENT^ Gooo

_FAIR

-DETERIORATED

-RUINS_U NEXPOSED

CHECK ONE

TUNALTERED\lrrneo

CHECK ONE

X onrc'"o,- s,re

-MOVED DATE-

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN} PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Liberty Baptist Church, located at the eastern corner of the intersection of 7thand Oak Streets, was built in 1886 on the site of an earlier church which hadbeen demolished by a cyclone. The present red brick church was constructed muchin the same style and dimension as the earlier Gothic revival structure. Thebuilding is three bays wide, seven bays deep, and one story tall. Symmetricallyarranged, the main (north) facade is dominated by a projecting center bay tower.The primary entrance to the church is located in this bay; the current extrudedaluminum entrance jso of course, a contemporary addition.

Two side entrances into the clu.lich are celtered in the end b6ys of the mainfacade. These entrances are flanked by lancet wjndows and are surmounted by largerwindows of the same profi'le. Lancet windows mark the bays on the long elevationsof the bui'lding, framed by buttress forms. The wall surfaces are further ornamentecwith limestone details, such as engaged pinac'leso moldings, and cap stones (mostof whjch have been painted)n and ornamental brick work, such as a molded watertable, panels of mouse-tooth and diapering, and corbel'ling.

The interior of the church proper has been altered in that the depth of thesanctuary has been shortened orle bay and contemporary panellina and wallfinished have been introduced within the last twenty years. The stained glasswindows, however, appear to be original to the building. A jjmestone facedaddition was added in 1965; this addition houses church offices and SundaySchool rooms ,- as wbl I as meetfiig and di ni ng f aci'l i ti es.

AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

-.-ARCH EO LOGY. PRE HISTORIC

---ARCH EOLOGY-HI STORIC

_-AGRICULTU RE

JaRcstrecrune---ART

-COMM ERCE

-COMMUNICATIONS

-COMMUNITY PLATNING

-CONSERVATION

-ECONOlvllCS

-EDUCATION

-ENGINEERING

-EXPLO RATION/SETTLEM ENT

-IN DU STRY

-INVENTION

-LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

-LAW_LITE RATU RE

-MILITARY_MUSTC

-PHILOSOPHY

-POLITICS/GOVER N M ENT

-RELIGION_>ut E t\ Lts

-SCU LPTU RE

X-socra vH u n,tANrrARrAN

_THEATER

-TRANSPORTATION_OTHER (SPECIFY)

Sfl srcNIFrcANcE

PERIOD

_PREHtSTOiilC

_1400- 1499

_1 500- 1599

_1 600- 1 699

_l 700- 1 799

-f,r soo- r ess_1900-

SPECIFIC DATES I 886 BUILDER/ARCH ITECT

STATEM ENT OF SIGN I FICANCE

Liberty Baptist Church is an-important'symbol of the Evansv'i'lle black " 'community which developed after the Civil War. During the unsetiledtimes in the south at the end of the civil war, many iormer slavestraveled North to find a better life and a guarantee of their newfreedom. In Indiana Evansville was the focal point for th'is blackmigi"ation, and hundreds of blacks crossed the 0hio River in .lg65.

Evansville's Negro popuiation jumped from ninety-five in .l860 to

almost two thousand in 1870. In the last halt bt ilre nineteenthcentury, Evansville had a larggr percentage of blacks than any otherIndiana c'ity.

The Liberty Baptist congregation was organized on June .|3,

l865o in alittle brjck building on chestnut and canal streets. Although theDeacons and other members were blacks, colonel woods, a white devotedto the welfare of former slaves, was the first pastor. Under hisleadership the members bought trvo lots at Sevenlh and Oak Streets anderected a frame church measuring forty by fifty feet.

After a short tjme, Elder Green McFarland replaced woods as pastorand served the membershjp until he died in l88l. During this timethe congregation grew rapidly due in part to the great unflux ofblack immigrants. To accommodate 'larger numbers, the membersconstructed a brick church in 1880 at a cost of $t0,000. Unfortunatelythis structure was. destroyed by a cyclone on June 9, lg86. viewingthe disaster as a "test of zeal and devotion to God's work," thetrustees started a rebuilding effort immediate'ly. With the help of sub-scriptions and outside sounces, the congregatioir built the present GothicRevival structure at a cost of $.|9,000.- The first service was hetd inDecember,.|886.

ffi uay oR BIBLIocRApHIcAt REFERENcES

See attached

lpcEocRAPHIcAt DArAA6REAGEoFNSMTNATEDpRopERTy less than ong acre

euADRANGLENAME Evansville SouthUTM REFERENCES

All r6 | l+ls of+'s'ol 1|4,210,213,2,01ZONE EASTINGcl , I

l:24000OUADRANGLE SCALE

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Hl r | | | ' I r r IGl ,lVERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE CODE COU NTY CODE

STATE CODE COUNTY

[$!ronu PREPARED BYNAME / TITLE

Reverend Robert L. Saunders, PastorORGAN IZATION

Li berty Bapti st ChurchDATE

l4ay , 1977STREET & NUMBER

701 Oak StreetTELEPHONE

8I2-422-4658CITY OR TOWN

Evansvi i I eSTATE

Indiana 47713

lpl Srnrr HTSTORIC rRESERVATION oFFICER CERTIFICATIONTHE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS:

NATIONAL STATE- ,-oaoa X

@istoricPreservationofficerfortheNationa|HistoricPreservationActof1966(Pub|icLaw89-665}'|

STATE HISTORIC Pr,

rlrLE Indihna\State Historic Preservatjon Officer DATE

R NPS USE ONLYt *Ensey cERTtFy THATTHTS PRoPERw tS tNctuDED lN THE NATIoNAL REGISTER

D:ATE

KEEPER OF THE HANONAL REGISTER

hereby nomilate this property for inclusion in,\ National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the

crite ri a " SIZ^ T:tffi$ff ".H/* serv ic e

C}IIEF OF REGTSTRATION

DATE

Form No. 1O-3OOa(Hev.1O-74)

UNITED STA-T|]S DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAT REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTOR Y .- NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER PAGE

FON NPS US€ ONLY

ECTIVED

f]lSttv Baptist is the oldest extant black congregation in Evansville.Although blacks settled wherever they could riio housing in the city inthe first months after the Civil War, ifrey-roon gathered in the areaaround Liberty Baptist; this section of tire-iily-became t nown is ,,BaptistTown". The church provided readership in irre-"LHgrorr, foliui, and po_litical "'life of-the city's black commiiniiy."-A'numoer of other churcheb -

ltugloPeq. as splinters from the.parent organ'ization , notiutv McFarlandBaptist Church. Liberty Baptist continuei to i.ru. the locai communitythrough day care.programs for children, r..ruuiional ..tiriii.i to1^ youth,and assistance with iow to moderate iniome housing.

The structure is representative of the manner in which archjtecture wasused in the nineteenth century. Gothi. i.jirr.s such u, poinieo arcrresand buttresses were used to iientify the iirr.iur. as a church. Thecentral projecting square towe'r strbngly oerines the entrance. Otherelements display a variety of uses of-biicr coursing, ru.r, ii diapering,mouse-toothing'uld corbeling. This decorative approach is more in linew'ith the Neo-Jacobean style irom the end oi il,. Medievar period. Inpart the overall simplicity of the steeply roofed mass wiilr t[e projectingcentral square tower makes-reference to sixteenth ..nir.y-ingiirn parishchurches' This allusion is reaffirmed ov frr.-".-entrant corier buttressingand stepped setbacks of the tower beneatir ita intersection with the eaves.The allusion is interrupted by the ".iui;onrrrtp'or the height of the gab.leto this part of the towen. -

The alteration of^traditional proportions and the combjnatjon of Gothicand Neo-Jacobean features demonstrates that while njneteenth centuryarchitects sometimes looked to the.past ror inspi"uti'onl-ilruv-iio notseek to construct repricas of earribr structr;;;. The ecr..ti. approachas viewed in the,Liberty Baptist Church aemonsirates how builders of thelast century used old eiements to create new combinations and uses ofstyl es

Form No. 1O-3OOa(Herr. 1O-74)

U N ITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORNATIONAL PABK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLAGESINVENTOR Y .. NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER PAGE

Bi bl i oqraphy

Gilbert, Frank M. Historv of the City of Eqansvjlle and Vander-* burgh_9gunty, Indiana..z voli- ., . .

Co. , I 9.|0.

Elliott, Joseph P. A_Lljstor.y_gf Eyar_rsvjlle and vanderburgh county,Indiana. Evansville: Keller Printi

Histgry of VandefPurgh County, Indiana. Madison, Wisconsin;Democrat Publ i s.hi ng Co. , .|889.

Reflgctioni_Upon a CenturV of Architecture: Evansville, Indiqqa.Evansville: Junioi Leagu

!

3TATE OF INDIANAEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION\DIANAPOLIS. INDIANA

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