History of First Baptist Church of Greater Toledo

In October of 1853, a group of eighteen people, including Rev. Edward F. Platt, recently arrived from New York, organized the First Baptist Church of Toledo.  Rev. Platt was an appointee of the American Baptist Home Mission Society on his way to St. Paul, Minnesota when a providential side trip brought him to Toledo.

The First Baptist Church has had four locations.  The first was in the rented Union Hall on Summit Street.  Within two years, however, the church moved into its' first building which was located on Huron Street in downtown Toledo.

The years on Huron Street were years of growth and by 1873 they had 274 members, but 593 enrolled in Sunday School.  The large Sunday School enrollment included three mission Sunday Schools located in different locations of the city.  Through the years, several mission projects such as the Sunday Schools developed into churches including Second Baptist, Third Baptist, Judson Baptist and Ashland Avenue Baptist.

In the early 1920s, the growth of the church necessitated a third move.  This time they joined "The Avenue of the Churches" on Collingwood Boulevard at the corner of Central.  A beautiful neo gothic building was constructed and it continues today to be the home of another congregation.  Of particular interest were the stained glass windows  in the building which depicted events in the Bible from creation to the coming kingdom of God.

With the population growth of the city moving toward southwest suburbs, the First Baptist Church voted a third time to respond to the changing demographics by moving to a new location.  The sense of mission personified in the early years in mission Sunday Schools has been alive in the church since they made their first move from Summit to Huron Street.

Today, the church worships in a beautiful white brick building on Holland-Perrysburg Road and Pilliod in Springfield Township.  The church participates with the Springfield Ministerial Association and M.T.C.U.  It is a member of the American Baptist Churches, USA and the Toledo Baptist Association.  The pastor of the church is Dr. David W. Andersen.

The spirit of building continues and in November, 1988, the church dedicated an education/fellowship hall addition to the present structure.  In June, 1997, the congregation voted to begin the process to add a third addition with groundbreaking to take place in the year 2000.  

The church moved faster than expected and groundbreaking for the third addition took place in November, 1999.  That same month, the church welcomed the Reverend Robert Hendrix to the staff as the Associate Pastor.

The church continued to expand and renovate the church building and grounds.  The sanctuary underwent an entire renovation during the summer of 2001.  The summer of 2002 found our focus on 'water.'  A new, in-ground sprinkler system was installed and then, for our 150th Year Anniversary, the church added the beautiful "Sesquicentennial Fountain" on the front corner of the facility.  

Change continued, even in the midst of our celebration of 150 years.  On May 4, 2003, Reverend Hendrix resigned as Associate Pastor to accept a call to the senior pastorate of another church here in Ohio.

Two years later, Dr. David W. Andersen announced his intention to retire effective May 15, 2005.  Our church again began another transition in our history.

After over 150 years, the church remains young and possessed of the same vitality which must have been evident to Rev. Platt when on his way to Minnesota he found his call in Toledo.

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