Waterloo Baptist Church

Early Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor, while the upper floor acted as a fraternal lodge. How...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
Format: Electronic
Published: Auburn University Libraries
Subjects:
Online Access:https://omeka.lib.auburn.edu/items/show/483
format Electronic
collection Alabama Cultural Resource Survey Collection
building Auburn University
publisher Auburn University Libraries
topic Cultural resources
spellingShingle Cultural resources
Waterloo Baptist Church
Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
fulltopic Cultural resources
Church; Religion
description Early Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor, while the upper floor acted as a fraternal lodge. However, the church building was destroyed during the Civil War. Under the command of General James Harrison Wilson, the Union Cavalry dismantled the Baptists church. One Waterloo citizen, John W. Till, recalled that he “saw a part of the soldiers of a Michigan Regiment tearing down the church” and they used the materials from the church and “built out of them their quarters.” As a result of the destruction of the church, during the 1870s and 1880s the church’s congregation had to hold services in various homes in the Waterloo community. In 1904, the congregation’s minister, Reverend W. J. Webb, testified that the church building was completely destroyed and probably worth only one thousand dollars. As a result, the Trustees of the Church decided to sue the United States for a total of one thousand dollars for the account of damages by the Union forces. The court rewarded the congregation with six hundred and fifteen dollars. Today, the congregation continues to thrive.
spelling Waterloo Baptist ChurchJesse Brock, University of North AlabamaChurch; ReligionEarly Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor, while the upper floor acted as a fraternal lodge. However, the church building was destroyed during the Civil War. Under the command of General James Harrison Wilson, the Union Cavalry dismantled the Baptists church. One Waterloo citizen, John W. Till, recalled that he “saw a part of the soldiers of a Michigan Regiment tearing down the church” and they used the materials from the church and “built out of them their quarters.” As a result of the destruction of the church, during the 1870s and 1880s the church’s congregation had to hold services in various homes in the Waterloo community. In 1904, the congregation’s minister, Reverend W. J. Webb, testified that the church building was completely destroyed and probably worth only one thousand dollars. As a result, the Trustees of the Church decided to sue the United States for a total of one thousand dollars for the account of damages by the Union forces. The court rewarded the congregation with six hundred and fifteen dollars. Today, the congregation continues to thrive. Alabama Cultural Resource Survey1840s-1900sfilehttps://omeka.lib.auburn.edu/items/show/483Text: William Lindsey McDonald, “The Waterloo Baptist Church and The Missionary,” located in in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 7: Other Denominations-Baptist, Churches 7.1” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal Of Muscle Shoals Vol. X (1983), 86.
title Waterloo Baptist Church
titleStr Waterloo Baptist Church
author Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
author_facet Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
id AUcultural483
url https://omeka.lib.auburn.edu/items/show/483
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