Broadway Baptist Church has a long an storied history in Winchester

The year 1889 saw a num­ber of mem­bers with­draw from the First Baptist Church on Highland Street to form a new con­gre­ga­tion, Broadway Baptist Church.  They pur­chased a lot on West Broadway for $1,300.  The Rev. R. T. Huffman went to Nashville and had a Black archi­tect draw up blue­prints for their new brick edi­fice.  The fin­ished church, declared one of the hand­somest in the state, left the con­gre­ga­tion with an indebt­ed­ness of $3,000.  The fol­low­ing is a list of the ini­tial members: 

Edward Turner, Charles Dedman, Beverly Jackson, trustees, Henry C. Baker, Mary Baker, Emma Baker, Patrick Banks, Catherine Banks, William Webb Banks, Madison Murray, Henry Murray, Orra C. Murray, Amanda Murray, Marshall M. Bell, Sisie Bell, Orren Bates, Hattie Bates, Robert W. Timberlake, Jerry Bates, Luella Bates, Janes Washington, Robert Haggard, Harry Hampton, Anna Hampton, Mary Thomas Wadkins, Andrew Howard, Danie1 Williams, Lorenza Lane, Charles Wills, Charley Holly, Samuel Garner, Isaac Kitchen, Sheldon Massie, Cyrus Coach, Jacob Bush, Leigh Bush, Catherine Bush, William Vaughn, Kate Vaughn, Guy Johnson, Sallie Johnson, Henry Hulse, Daniel Taylor, Harriet Taylor, Mary Francis Taylor, Mary Taylor, Bell Boon, Julia Hunter, Patsy Hunter, Nannie Holly, Bettie Hunt, Mattie Nicholas, Matilda Dedman, Catherine Copper, Mariah Wills. Julia Buckner, Eliza Massie, Josie Evans, Charles Mason, Ellen Mason, and Delia Mason.

In February 1894 Rev. Henry C. Baker was called as the first pas­tor of the con­gre­ga­tion.  Disaster struck lat­er that month when the cir­cuit court ruled against Broadway Baptist Church in a law­suit over its debt.  The court ordered the prop­er­ty to be sold at auc­tion.  Judge J.M. Benton, the high bid­der, pur­chased the church and allowed the con­gre­ga­tion to remain in their build­ing while rais­ing funds to retire the debt.  Some of the faith­ful secured mort­gages to pay off the notes.  Matt Murray and his wife Amanda and sev­er­al oth­ers even­tu­al­ly lost their homes to extin­guish the debt. 

Then on a Sunday in 1904, when mem­bers arrived for ser­vices, they found the church doors locked — again.  After los­ing anoth­er suit over their indebt­ed­ness, the court ordered the church to be sold at auc­tion — again.  This time Judge John Stevenson was the buy­er, and he gave the church very gen­er­ous terms to repay him.  The church was able to “burn the mort­gage” in 1914.

A March 1905 Winchester Sun arti­cle report­ed that 19 con­verts were bap­tized “in the chilly waters of Lowe’s pond in pres­ence of an immense crowd.”  Lowe’s pond, on the south side of Lexington Avenue between Garner and Olde Potomac Avenue, was drained in 1911.

It seems Broadway Baptist Church con­tin­ued to bor­row and repay loans to fund improve­ments and addi­tions: a new audi­to­ri­um (1914), church bell (1915), a par­son­age (1922), etc.  They were huge­ly suc­cess­ful host­ing ral­lies and fundrais­ing events.

The Rev. Henry C. Baker main­tained the pas­torate for five years.  He was fol­lowed by the Rev. David Anderson, the Rev. E.J. Anderson, the Rev. W.F. Hart, Dr. C.P.M. Bigbee, the Rev. T.T. Timberlake, the Rev. John S. Henderson, Dr. Charles Smith, the Rev. R.M. Jones, the Rev. C.C. Calloway, the Rev. G.H. Gilbert, and the Rev. Henry E. Baker Sr.

Coming to the pul­pit in 1956, Henry Edward Baker brought his dynam­ic lead­er­ship to Broadway Baptist Church and became their most cel­e­brat­ed min­is­ter.  (Surprisingly, the Jessamine County native was not kin to Henry C. Baker who hailed from Winchester.)  He attend­ed to his flock for 38 years and saw the con­gre­ga­tion increase to more than 400 mem­bers.  The beloved pas­tored retired in 1994.

Baker amassed a lengthy list of civ­il rights accom­plish­ments in the com­mu­ni­ty:  helped to inte­grate Winchester schools in 1956 and was instru­men­tal in inte­grat­ing Winchester restau­rants and motels, worked with the city and local indus­tries to increase their employ­ment of Blacks, ini­ti­at­ed a pro­gram of inter­ra­cial ser­vices in Winchester and Lexington, and orga­nized the Winchester-Clark County Christians United Against Drugs.  He served as chair of the Clark County Human Rights Commission, chair of the Kentucky River Foothills Development Council and served on the Winchester Board of Commissioners (1979) and as vice may­or (1980−1984).

Baker also received numer­ous awards:  Martin Luther Award (2007), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Clark County Republican Party (2000) and the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame (2000).  Bell’s Alley was renamed in his hon­or as Reverend H.E. Baker Way, as was the new Henry E. Baker Intermediate School.

After a long and fruit­ful life, Baker passed away in 2014, leav­ing eight chil­dren, 24 grand­chil­dren and 14 great-grand­chil­dren.  He was a vet­er­an of the United States Army.

Broadway Baptist Church con­tin­ues today in the same church build­ing it has occu­pied for 135 years.

Some of the mate­r­i­al for this arti­cle was tak­en from a his­to­ry of Broadway Baptist Church by Carolyn Gatewood.