History

Members of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church were gathered in their meeting place, a two-floor building at Peachtree and East Wesley Roads. The temporary flat roof above them was level with Peachtree Street where some had parked their cars; many had come by streetcars which plowed the steel tracks between downtown Atlanta and Buckhead. Excitement, expectancy were in the air this 20th day of November, 1932, for the people had come together for the first worship service of their merged church.

Merged was a strange word in Baptist tradition. The congregations who united that fall day had sprung from a conflicting principle, divide and multiply, one they had practiced by sponsoring mission stations and churches throughout Atlanta. Now that worthy course was altered by circumstance: the city's burgeoning commercial expansion had caused downtown residents to migrate to the suburbs; the Great Depression called for economic practicality; and, through it all, God's plan for Second-Ponce de Leon Church was underway.

To understand our church heritage is to trace the history of three merging churches. In the dedication of our forebears to God, we can discover new inspiration for our own commitment to Him.
 
Ponce de Leon Avenue Baptist Church purchased the Peachtree-Wesley property
 

Ponce de Leon Avenue Baptist Church was constituted October 9, 1904 when Atlanta's First Baptist Church recognized the need for a new Baptistchurch in the northern section of the city. First Baptist voted to release any of their own members who would transfer their commitments to the new church, and invited Baptists from other congregations to join the undertaking. Of the 115 charter members, 84 came from First Baptist Church, 19 from Second Baptist Church, and several from other Baptist congregations. A site for the church building was selected on the corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Piedmont Avenue, and a pastor was called: Rev. Junius W. Millard. For more than a year the church worshiped in a temporary tabernacle across the street, erected on land offered free of charge by Mr. Edward C. Peters. On September 9, 1906 the first service was held in their classic new building; its total cost, including the lot, furnishings, and organ was over $60,000.

Ponce de Leon Avenue Baptist Church, constituted in 1904, was at the corner of Piedmont Avenue. Its building was dedicated in 1906.

Second Baptist Church, constituted in 1854, was across from the Georgia Capital. Its second building, above, was occupied in 1893

Under the leadership of several great pastors and a dedicated laity, the church grew in membership and service through the next quarter century. Following World War I, commercial development pushed further out Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue, encroaching on the residential area served by the church. Members became widely scattered, particularly to the north. On June 21, 1929, the church authorized purchase of a lot  254 feet fronting on Peachtree Road and 300 feet down Wesley Avenue (later called East Wesley Road)  for the sum of $31,750. They began to raise funds for building there, selling the Ponce de Leon Avenue location to Central Congregational Church. A contract was awarded for the first two floors of the Sanctuary Building, which was completed and occupied August 3, 1930. Second Baptist Church, oldest of the churches, consolidated with Ponce de Leon From 1854 Second Baptist Church was located in downtown Atlanta. It was begun by 19 members of Atlanta's First Baptist Church who took their church letters in order to constitute a second Baptist work in the city. Theventure was harmoniously endorsed by the parent church.

Meeting for the first year in the home of a member, Dr. B.F. Bomar, the church secured a $1,000 loan in 1855 with which to purchase a lot at the northwest corner of Washington and Mitchell Streets. After a sudden windstorm ripped off the metal roof over their basement structure, they proceeded to build the first brick church in Atlanta, the first with a steam heating plant, and the first to have a baptistry within the building.

 Dedicated in 1858, its approximate cost was $14,000. Beyond their use for worship and Sabbath School, the facilities were used to meet community needs.

A Missionary Society was established in 1861, a strong arm throughout the history of Second Baptist Church and its antecedents. Initially a women's organization, it began numerous new churches and mission stations, largely through the zealous Young Men's Missionary Society.

With the coming of Sherman's army in 1864, many church members were evacuated. Their building was saved from heavy shelling and fire by Father O'Riley of the neighboring Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. A friend of General Sherman, he pled for Second Baptist and Central Presbyterian Churches to be spared as was his church's building. There are no records of any church meetings from July, 1864 until April, 1865. The building was used as a storehouse for drygoods and furniture, some of it belonging to church members.

The economic deprivation of Reconstruction days was met in part by apportioning expenses to the members through a system of pew rentals. When insufficient, Sunday morning collections raised the difference. The church had outgrown its building by 1867; various alterations were discussed, but the scarcity of money delayed plans until 1870. Then with $13,000 in Building Fund subscriptions, members voted to alter and repair the facilities at a cost not to exceed $17,500 including carpeting and upholstering the pews and pulpit. Growth in membership over the next 20 years again called for building expansion; in the decade from 1882 to 1892 alone, membership doubled. When further enlargement of the building was deemed impracticable, a subscription campaign was begun for a new church edifice on the same site. On the last Sunday of 1890, final services were held in the old church; a hastily built tabernacle nearby met temporary needs. The handsome new Second Baptist building was dedicated the last Sunday in October 1893. It was to serve a growing, missionary-spirited congregation over the next 35 years.

From about 1920, Second Baptist Church was affected by a membership migrating to the suburbs. The downtown location was surrounded by commercial development and a changing population. It was an act of Christian faith when the church called Dr. Ryland Knight as pastor effective June 1,1931; a study committee expressed confidence in his wisdom and experience to bring the church through difficult circumstances.
 

Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church was proposed by an unselfish pastor Dr. Luther Rice Christie, pastor of Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, invited the new Second Baptist pastor, Dr. Knight, to ride with him to Buckhead. He showed him the building at Peachtree and Wesley which Ponce de Leon Avenue Church had begun when commerce encroached upon their former location, and where Buckhead Baptist Church had joined them. Dr. Christie suggested that Second Baptist merge with them also; and, in a magnanimous gesture, he proposed that Dr. Knight should be pastor of the consolidated church. Members of both churches, deeply affected by the Depression at this time, began to favor a merger. In a conference on November 18, 1932, agreement was finalized; and Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, with membership of about 2,300, met for worship the following Sunday. Click here to continue

The completed Sanctuary Building of Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church was dedicated October 10, 1937.