Bear Creek Baptist Church facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Bear Creek Baptist Church
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 Location in Missouri
Location in the United States
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| Location | N of Kirksville off US 63, near Kirksville, Missouri |
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| Area | 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) |
| Built | 1860 |
| NRHP reference No. | 84002132 |
| Added to NRHP | March 29, 1984 |
The Bear Creek Baptist Church is a very old and important Baptist church building in Adair County, Missouri. It is located about four miles northwest of Kirksville on Missouri Route B. This historic church was built in 1860. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 because of its special history.
Today, the church building is quite old and needs repairs, so no church services are held there anymore. The church, its nearby cemetery, and the land around them are looked after by a group called the Bear Creek Cemetery Association of Adair County. This group works hard to keep the site preserved.
Contents
History of Bear Creek Church
How the Church Started
The Bear Creek Baptist group was the very first organized Christian community in Adair County. They started meeting in the late 1830s. Before this, people would only gather in small groups at private homes.
Reverend Talbot Hight helped organize the church group between late 1838 and early 1839. At first, they didn't have enough money or land to build a proper church building. So, for many years, they held their services in people's homes. Reverend Lewis Connor was their pastor during these early times.
Building the Church Building
Reverend Connor passed away in 1856. He was buried on a piece of his land that he had set aside for the church and a cemetery. The exact year the church building was finished isn't known for sure, but most people agree it was started around 1860.
However, the American Civil War caused many problems and delays. Because of the war, the church building wasn't fully finished until sometime in 1865.
Later Years and Preservation
The church continued to grow and have many members throughout the rest of the 1800s. But in the early 1900s, fewer and fewer people attended. The last regular church services were held on February 7, 1914.
Even after services stopped, the cemetery continued to be used. The last known burials there were in 1979. One important person buried in the Bear Creek cemetery is Samuel Withrow. He was the first postmaster in Adair County and was buried there in 1852.
In October 1946, a group from the First Baptist Church of Kirksville placed a large rock with a special plaque at the site. This was to honor the Bear Creek Church as the first church in the county.
In May 1982, a non-profit group was formed. This was the Bear Creek Cemetery Association of Adair County. Their main goal was to take care of the church property and building. One of their first big projects was to get the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This helps protect the building and recognize its importance.
The Bear Creek Church also survived a very close call with a powerful storm in 2009. On May 13 of that year, a strong tornado, measured as an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, passed very near the church. The tornado caused a lot of damage in the area, but the historic church building was able to survive.
