2519 Jefferson Ave.
First Baptist
The sanctuary at First Baptist Congregational in Ogden, Utah. (Deniane Kartchner photo)
1881
The first permanent Baptist organization in Utah began in 1881 when Rev. Dwight Spencer, a missionary representing the American Baptist Home Mission society, came to Ogden to explore the possibility of organizing a Baptist church. On Sunday, May 22, 1881, twelve Baptists met at the Odd Fellows Hall and resolved themselves into First Baptist of Ogden.
The existing tannery on the land was utilized for both a church and a school. A bell was donated and, when it was rung on January 18th, 1874, it was the first church bell ever heard in Ogden.
1882
On August 13, 1882, the cornerstone for a new building was laid at 24th Street and Grant Avenue. "The complete building represented an investment of $10,000. The church continued to prosper and eventually felt the need for a larger facility, so in 1919 the present site at 25th Street and Jefferson Avenue was purchased and an ambitious building program started.
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1919
The old church was vacated in 1923 and the congregation met in the partially completed new building until the spring of 1926, when the building was finally completed." Built in the Federal style, the church building is a distinctive part of Ogden’s Jefferson Avenue Historic District. Architects - Slack Winburn & Walter Ware, designed in the Colonial & English Paladin style. (jeffersonhistoric.ogdencity.com)
"Enchanted as we are by the past, the lure of the future is greater....Never was the summons plainer" "Forward!"
- From First Baptist of Ogden's 50th anniversary program in 1931
