The First Baptist Church of Madison, one of the oldest congregations in the city, dates to 1847 when preliminary meetings were held by eleven Baptist congregations in the Territory of Wisconsin. From these meetings came the organization of a Baptist society in Madison. Under the leadership of Rev. H. W. Read the congregation met in the State Capitol, the homes of its members, and the Dane County Court House. In 1853 the congregation summoned Rev. M. D. Miller and his leadership and zeal was responsible for the building of a church building on the Capitol Square in 1854. An important community center, this building was also the home of the State Historical Society until 1866.
Prior to the turn of the century the congregation was served by seventeen pastors. Their names and tenure are listed on page 36 of the centennial history of the church included in Box 3 of the collection. In 1895 the church voted to purchase a property at the corner of West Dayton and Carroll Street, and during the turbulent tenure of Henry T. Comstock the congregation constructed a new meeting house. This building was erected at a cost of $18,000, but it was used for only ten months as it burned to the ground after being struck by lightning in 1901. Under the leadership of Rev. W. G. Walker the congregation regrouped and in 1902 rebuilt on the foundations of the burned building.
In 1904 the congregation summoned Rev. Frederic Tower Galpin who developed an active program of youth participation. His brother, Charles Galpin, was appointed the congregation's University pastor--the first university pastor of any church in the country. Charles Galpin was well known for establishing “Baptist hikes” to appeal to the student population. Largely through Galpin's pioneering leadership the First Baptist Church and the Baptist State Convention assumed responsibility for ministering to Baptist students at the University. Until 1922 the work of the Baptist Students Guild was part of the First Baptist Church, but in that year the Francis Wayland Foundation purchased a headquarters building for the student organization. In 1928 the organization became known as the Wayland Club.
During the early years of the century B. B. Collyer, the Sunday School superintendent, administered the church's Sunday School, the largest Sunday School program in the city. In 1912 Dr. John L. Gillin began a popular adult Sunday School that came to be known as the Gillin Class.
In 1913 the congregation officially reorganized as the First Baptist Church of Madison and about the same time acquired a parsonage at 405 North Henry Street. It was later replaced by a parsonage at 1819 Keyes Avenue. In 1923 the congregation, which by this time had a membership of 665, celebrated its diamond anniversary. In 1932 the congregation summoned L. B. Moseley, whose twelve-year tenure was the longest of any previous minister to serve the congregation. Moseley's personality attracted a larger, more vital membership and his administrative leadership inspired a new attitude toward church finances--voluntary pledging rather than reliance on church dinners and bazaars. In 1947 the congregation, then numbering over 800, celebrated its centennial with the purchase of property on Franklin Avenue that would allow for further growth.
