The origins of the Slatington Baptist Church (www.slatingtonbaptist.org) date back to the 1859 Williamstown Baptist Mission which was started by Henry Williams (1818-1878) in a schoolhouse to the west of Slatington. Henry Williams (1818-1878) was an early slate entrepreneur in the area and responsible for the settlement of "Williamstown."
Today, there is really nothing left (except for a small cemetery) of Williamstown, which was a little over a mile west of Slatington on the old Slatington Pike to Emerald (basically midway between Slatington and Emerald).
In 1891 the church moved to Slatington and rented part of the third floor of the Fritzinger Building (the northwest corner of Main and Church Streets). But on 25 September 1891, a fire gutted the relatively-new building and destroyed all the church's furnishings on the third floor.
Soon after the fire, the church acquired a building lot on West Church Street, and on 1 April 1892 the congregation moved into the newly-built Baptist Church across from the former Hose Company No. 1 fire house. At this time, the name was formally changed to the Slatington Baptist Church.
View of the former Baptist Church on West Church Street
In May 1899, the members of the church decided to expand and purchased the lot on the southwest corner of Main and Second Streets from Benjamin Kern for $4,000. Ground was broken in July 1899, and almost a year later, on 16 June 1900, the new Baptist Church was dedicated. The total construction cost was $21,269.26.
Old postcard view of the Slatington Baptist Church
On 20 December 1902, the headline of The Slatington News read:
HANDSOME PRESENT
Baptist Church Receive a Pipe Organ
from ANDREW CARNEGIE
First to be presented to the Eastern Section of the country by the steel king.
The pipe organ was installed in 1903 and then electrified and refurbished in 1940.
The church was able to receive the organ through the connections of Rev. Dr. Daniel E. Richards (1858? - 1939) who was the minister of the Slatington Baptist Church from 1896 until 1906. Born in Wales, Richards was a graduate of the Crozier Theological Seminary in Chester, PA and ordained at Carnegie, PA in 1887. He also graduated as a physician from the University of Western Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) in 1894. It was from his service in Carnegie, PA and then in Sharpsburg, PA in western Pennsylvania that Richards had become acquainted with Andrew Carnegie's desire to gift organs to churches around the country. Carnegie (1835-1919) had begun donating organs around 1895 and ended up gifting over 7,600 organs in his lifetime.
After leaving Slatington in 1906, Rev. Dr. Richards, who was also a noted Welsh poet, moved to Scranton. He died in San Diego in 1939.
The Slatington Baptist Church, 509 Main Street, is considered a good example of the religious gothic revival architectural style.
Growing up in Slatington just a block away from the church, I long ago became accustomed to seeing this stately church overlooking the Main Street bridge area. I'd also add that I was never actually in the church. I've driven past the church, walked past it, rode my bike past it, and ran past it countless times, but never entered it.
The Slatington Baptist Church, 2023