ABOUT US

Brief History of the Church

The First Baptist Church, Ashdown, originally calledAshdown Missionary Baptist Church, was organized August 29, 1894, in the home of Mrs. M. A. Dupree. The four charter members, Mrs. Dupree, Mrs. E. M. Wilkerson, Miss M. A. Wilkerson and G. G. Rochelle, were joined by seven additional members on September .1 They were Mattie Taylor, Annie Dupree, Betty Pounds, Levada Pounds, Lena Furlow, Glen Gil, and Dyre Nelson.
It was five years later, in 1899, that the struggling congregation completed its first permanent building located on the lot now occupied by Strange Furniture Company. The building was later moved to the present site of the tele- phone building. The Sunday School was organized in 1899.

The second building, constructed at a cost of approxi-
mately $20,000, served as a house of worship from 1920 until
the morning of May 18, 1969. An addition to this structure was built in 1953 and was named the Jo Cowling Memorial Building.

Both the original and the added portion of the building continue to be used for the organizational and educa tional needs of the church.
In 1968, the church had entered the serious planning stage on a new building when the Rev. Ross O. Ward resigned as pastor. A Building and Planning Committee composed of the following members was functioning: Dan Grounds, Jr.,
Chairman, Mrs. F. T. Caldwell, Lacy Harris, Charles Trammell, Mrs. E. E. Cowling, Royce Wilson, Fred Embry Pickett, and James A. Gunter, Jr. When Rev. Harold Brewer was called as pastor ni June, planning resumed. Construction on the new building began about December 1, 1968, and the first services were conducted in the new structure on the
morning of May 25, 1969.

This building, the third in the history of the church, was built at a cost of $130,000. It provides 10,700 square feet of
floor space, and houses the sanctuary, a suite of offices, par lor, and several class rooms. Adequate space upon which to
build was made possible through the purchase of an adjoining lot from Mrs. M. L. Stinson.