North Taunton Baptist Church

North Taunton Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church located at 1940 Bay Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The small Federal era church was constructed in 1837, in what was a still very rural part of Taunton containing mostly farmland.[2]

North Taunton Baptist Church
LocationTaunton, Massachusetts
Coordinates41°54′52″N 71°5′41″W
Built1837
Architectural styleFederal
MPSTaunton MRA
NRHP reference No.84002188 [1]
Added to NRHPJuly 5, 1984

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[1]

Description and history

The North Taunton Baptist Church is located on the southwest side of Bay Street, a major north-south road (dating to colonial times) that connects Taunton to points north. It is set between junctions with Crane Avenue North and Field Street. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a gable roof and clapboard siding. A two-stage square tower projects slightly from the front facade, rising through a tall first section to a cornice, above which is a belfry section with louvered Gothic-arched openings. An octagonal steeple topped by a weathervane completes the tower. The main entrance is set in a gabled-roofed vestibule projecting from the tower. Windows on the front and the sides are paired, with a tripartite Gothic-arched panel above each pair.

The Baptist congregation in Taunton developed as early as 1747, as an informal gathering aligned with the Baptists in nearby Rehoboth. The group later held services in the North Taunton home of Jeremiah Bassett. In 1769, the congregation was formally organized. The church later moved to Weir Village, using a warehouse there for services until the North Taunton church was built in 1837.[2]

In 1819, a group split off to form the Winthrop Street Baptist Church near Taunton center. Then, in 1822, another split occurred within the church between the Calvinists, who founded their own church in Norton, and the Free Will Baptists, who settled in North Taunton. Thus, the North Taunton Baptist Church is often considered the "mother church" of Baptists in the Taunton area.[2]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "NRHP nomination for North Taunton Baptist Church". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
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