Our Heritage
The First Baptist Church of
Ardmore was organized April 21, 1889, with Rev. J. R. Master as pastor.
They organized and met for a time in King College which was located
across the ally from the present Y.W.C.A. building. A little later the
group met in the Cumber land Presbyterian Church, then located on the
Southwest corner of the block occupied Tby the present Court House. Soon the church built a frame
building on West Broadway.
At the same time another group organized the Central
Baptist Church and erected a brick building on the corner or Broadway
and C street N.W. Under the leadership of Pastors J. T. Bagwell of
Central Baptist Church and J.L. Keller of the First Baptist Church, the
two churches united a became known as the Broadway Baptist Church.
In 1927, the present building was constructed and the
church name was changed to the "First Missionary Baptist
Church."
Dr. Alton Fannin, assumed the pastorate September 4,
1988. In 1989 the Church celebrated its 100th anniversary. On
August 5, 1990, under Dr. Fannin’s leadership, the church moved into a
new adult education complex. In 1995 and 1996 the interior of the
auditorium renovated and the Clay building was bought and completely
renovated to be used as our Youth Building. The former Youth Building
was converted for use by our children’s ministry. In 2001 a new
Fellowship Hall and additional Adult Bible study space was completed.