Original Site of Third Baptist Church

The bronze names the founders but not the church's first name. It was the First Colored Baptist Church when seven men and Eliza and William Davis organized it in the Davis home in 1852, and it was renamed Third Baptist in 1855. Its first pastors, most of them white, served until Charles Satchell came in 1856 as its first Black pastor. The congregation bought the old First Baptist building and moved it to this corner, and it remained the only Black Baptist church in the city until the 1940s.

What the plaque says

Original Site of Third Baptist Church, the First African American Baptist Church West of the Rocky Mountains In August 1852, Abraham Brown, Thomas Bundy, Thomas Davenport, Willie Denton, Harry Fields, George Lewis, Fielding Spotts, and Eliza and William Davis organized the church in the Davis home. The congregation purchased the old First Baptist Church and moved it to this location in 1854. The present church is now located at 1399 McAllister Street. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1010 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Third Baptist Church, April 9, 1995. Cora Mary Jackson Church Historian Dr. Amos C. Brown Pastor

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Telegraph Hill — steps away
• Juana Briones, Pioneer Settler of Yerba Buena — steps away
• Farnsworth's Green Street Lab — 0.3 mi
• Site of the Bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. (Sherman's Bank) — 0.5 mi