Past and Present: The Prospect Park Baptist Church

A look at Brooklyn, then and now.

I get my “past” photos from a number of sources, and one of them is eBay. There are thousands of old postcards of Brooklyn for sale every day, many of them showing places that I had no idea existed. It’s always fun to find those, amidst the hundreds of postcards of the Brooklyn Bridge, Prospect Park and Coney Island. I’ve found some of my favorite “Past and Presents” there, and I’ve bought many cards over the years. My search today landed me this little gem – the Prospect Park Baptist Church.

At first glance, I just loved this cute little shingled church, and since I have a passing familiarity with most of the areas around Prospect Park, I didn’t recognize this one at all. One of the things that drew my eye to the photo was that the church looked like it was floating above the ground. With its wooden shingles and steep pitched roof, it looked like an ark. Was that on purpose, did the architect want to have the congregation feel like they were being saved in an actual ark? Perhaps he did, but blowing the photo up a bit tells the story – the church was on skids and/or wheels, and was in the process of being moved.

I also had the feeling that this little church was gone. I did some quick research, and I was right – but the story has a twist. The Prospect Park Baptist Church had its start in Windsor Terrace, on the corner of Greenwood Avenue and East 7th Street. I was unable to find when they built this building, but it had been there by at least 1904, which was the first entry I found in any newspaper. They were a very active little church, but by 1908, needed to move, for reasons that were never explained to the press.

Instead of just leaving, and building a new church somewhere else, the church decided to move the building as well. A new site, on the corner of Avenue C and 4th Street, in nearby Kensington was secured, and preparations were made to move the church. It was about a mile away. Moving buildings has long been possible, but it has never been easy. However, larger buildings that this, like the enormous Brighton Beach Hotel on Coney Island, had been put on rollers and moved, around the same time frame, so compared to that, this should be relatively easy. I’m sure it wasn’t.

While the church was being readied for the move, a large new foundation was prepared, which contained a very spacious new basement, which would act as a banquet and events space, and a place where Sunday school and Bible Study classes could take place. The congregation had been worshipping there for a couple of weeks before the move, as well. The move began on March 1, 1908, and took several days. When the church reached its new site, it was placed on the new foundation, and once secure, a new addition was built, and other changes were made to enlarge the entire structure and provide more room for both worship and social functions.

The week of June 12th, 1908, was chosen as dedication week. The new church was ready, and ceremonies and services, banquets and other activities took place to celebrate the re-dedication. The church now had steam heat, was lit by electricity throughout, and had a state of the art kitchen in the basement. Four new stained glass windows were dedicated, as well. There were choir concerts and children’s services, as well.

Throughout the 20th century, the church appeared in the local newspapers, as it was host to a very active Boy Scout troop, sports clubs, ladies’ clubs, and other events. They were hosts to many visiting ministers and had many fine pastors over the years. The newspaper records go up through the 1950s, listing births, deaths, marriages, lectures, concerts and Sunday services. Prospect Park Baptist Church was an active and vital part of the Kensington community.

That all changed in the late 1960s, when the church caught fire, and burned to the ground. The Kensington neighborhood blog, Kensington Stories, had two commenters who remembered the church and the fire. A new church was built on East 8th Street, but today, the Prospect Park Baptist Church no longer exists.

The postcard has a canceled stamp from 1910, but that doesn’t mean the photograph couldn’t be earlier. It had to be, as the church was sitting on its new foundation in 1908. This picture was taken while the church was on the move. I could not match any of the other buildings to any specific location.

I don’t believe this photograph shows either the point of origin, on Greenwood, or the final point on Avenue C. On both blocks there are existing buildings that are as old, or older than the church, nearby which could not have been replaced by the buildings in the photographs. This is probably a street corner along the moving route. If anyone knows where this is, please write in a comment. The photo on the right shows the location where the church came to rest, and from where it burned down in the 60s. These new three family houses were put up sometime in the 1970s. GMAP