On this day in Alabama history: Greater Shiloh Baptist was established
Shiloh Baptist Church, Birmingham, c. 1902. (Robert Henry Walker Jr., the Trumpet Blast, Birmingham Public Library, Wikipedia)
May 3, 1891
Then known simply as Shiloh Baptist Church, the congregation was founded on May 3, 1891. Pastor Thomas Walker led the church, built at the intersection of 19th Street South and Avenue G in Birmingham’s Southside.
By the turn of the century, the church had grown to the point that it needed a new building, and work finished on the 3,000-seat auditorium in 1901. The size of the building made it ideal for hosting the National Baptist Convention in 1902. However, that meeting became a major setback for the congregation. There was not enough room for the crowd that came to hear Booker T. Washington speak, and a shout mistakenly heard as a report of a fire triggered a panicked evacuation that killed more than 100 people.
Read more at Bhamwiki.
Booker T. Washington, half-length portrait, c. 1895. (Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
