20: Evangelical Baptist Church

The Evangelical Baptist Church is significant architecturally as an early 19th century church that was adapted to the needs and tastes of later generations. Beginning as a Greek Revival church, it subsequently acquired an attractive Victorian exterior and a fine early 20th century auditorium.

 In 1871, while located on its original site at the corner of Church and North Main Street, the Congregationalists, updated the building to include a new three-story tower projecting slightly from the main facade and above the tower, a new steeple with belfry, clock stages, and a tall octagonal spire that reached some 170 feet above the street making it the tallest structure in the community.

In December 1902, the congregation abandoned the church when the building sustained extensive damage from the explosion and fire at the Masonic Temple nearby on Main Street.  The Congregationalists voted to build a new church and to sell the old building to the People's Christian Church Society. The People's Christian Church moved the building of the church 200 feet away to Veterans Square (Depot Square).

In September 1938, the great hurricane toppled the upper steeple, the belfry, clock stages, and the spire. The exterior, with the major exception of the steeple, appears today as it did in 1872.

The church is now home to the CAKE Theatre.