104 East Home Avenue
City Directories and History: First Baptist Church, Hartsville – Written and contributed to R&R by Bill Segars, 2015
As soon as the town of Hartsville begins to form, so did a Baptist church. Early in 1850 John Lide Hart bought 491 acres of land, previously owned by his father Thomas Hart, from his brother-in-law Thomas Lide. John Hart was very active in the Baptist denomination at Gum Branch Baptist Church and Providence Baptist Church; so one of his first good deeds, upon punching this land, was to donate some of it for the purpose of building a Baptist church.
On November 16, 1850 Hartsville Baptist Church, the first church in the soon to be community of Hartsville, was formed. The first building was built to serve to citizens in 1851 with Rev. J. W. Burn as the pastor, who served until his death in 1880. Dr. W. S. Dorset came to Hartsville in 1903 as the pastor of Hartsville Baptist and serve here until 1907. It was during this period that Rev. Dorset encouraged the congregation to change their name to First Baptist Church and to look to future growth with a new building.
When Dr. E. V. Baldy of Georgia, the next pastor, arrived in 1907 he found a growing community and a building under construction with wall about three feet high. But there was a small problem, the congregation had committed to an enormous debt to be able to build this solid masonry building which was under construction, $27,000. In 1907 this was an unheard of amount of money for a church building measuring 52 feet wide by 85 feet deep in such a small community. So his first task was to set out to raise the funds and support to pay for this building, which he did with ease and very little problem. Dr. Baldy stayed in Hartsville for 16 years serving his community and as pastor of First Baptist.
On a Sunday in February 1908, possibly the 23rd, it seemed like all of Hartsville gather for the opening service of the new edifice that sits on top of the hill overlooking the town. No one was more proud of the new elegant Greek Revival building than Mrs. Jane Lide Coker Wilson because her son, Charles Coker Wilson was the architect of her home town church building. Charles Coker Wilson had recently returned to Columbia South Carolina to practice architecture and when his mother insisted that he return to Hartsville, his birth place, to design her church; he could not turn her down.
Charles Coker Wilson, while practicing in South Carolina proved to be a very prolific architect of many well-known buildings that are presently listed on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina. Buildings that can be seen today from The South Carolina State Capital, to many local residence and most of the buildings on Coker College campus are only a sample of Wilson’s additions to South Carolina’s architectural landscape. Wilson not only designed buildings from the coast to the upstate of South Carolina; he trained many young start-up architects to follow his lead with stately, imposing, quality buildings, buildings that would stand the test of time as First Baptist has.
The many generations of Hartsvillians that have attended First Baptist have been good stewards of their buildings and property. As the congregation grew, a new larger sanctuary was built in 1964, but the old 1908 building was not forgotten. As with most church congregation, conversations and even debates have been held as to what to do with their aging buildings, but historical minded members have prevailed and the heritage rich buildings have been saved on this campus for other to enjoy. In 2003 Wilson’s old sanctuary was completely renovate and is presently used as a chapel on a regular basis for the glory of God.
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars – 2010