HISTORY OF PASCO COUNTY

First Baptist Church, Dade City

The following is an article is taken from East Pasco’s Heritage (1976) by John L. Epting.

Oak Grove Baptist Church was organized before 1870 at Fort Dade community. Its cemetery later became Dade City Municipal Cemetery. On Nov. 14, 1891, ten leading families of Oak Grove organized College Street Baptist Church on the present site in Dade City. The street was named for South Florida Normal Institute, established in 1887, which operated for many summers in Dade City School building. The church also met in the schoolhouse until its building was completed in June 1892. In 1895 Oak Grove dissolved and the rest of its members came to College Street Baptist Church.

Baptists then were very strict, requiring moral lives, regular attendance, and financial support from members. Slackers who did not mend their ways were dropped from the church roll. In 1899 and again in 1905 the church building burned and had to be rebuilt. In 1905 the church ladies bought a house east of the church for a pastorium. In 1919 a basement and Sunday School annex were added to the church. In 1940 an old church building was bought and moved behind the church for a fellowship hall and classrooms.

In 1944 the street had been renamed Church Avenue, and the name of the church was changed to First Baptist Church of Dade City. In 1950 the first units of the present brick building were begun. The first pastorium was moved to the corner of Meridian and Thirteenth St. to make room. The present sanctuary and east classroom wing were completed in 1955. The whole block was secured, and the second pastorium built north of the church. In 1960 the chapel and west classroom wing were completed.

Radio ministry was begun in 1958. Fort Dade Mission was started in 1942, established as a church in 1952, and helped until 1972. Ridge Manor Mission was started in 1974. First Baptist Church shared its office and classroom space with Pasco-Hernando Community College for two years until the college campus was completed. A Senior Citizens Group meets at the church monthly. The W. M. U. Crisis Committee gives emergency aid to community residents and transients. Resident membership in First Baptist Church is now 400 families, with average Sunday School attendance 300.

Pastors who have served First Baptist Church are: P. C. Drew, 1892; W. M. Wamboldt, 1893-96; W. E. Bogart, 1897-99; George T. Leitner, 1900-05; W. D. Tumley, 1906-10; W. A. Burns, 1910-13; T. S. Hubert, 1913-15; Ben Brooks, 1915-16; Milton M. Bales, 1917-18; O. E. Tebow, 1918-21; B. G. Smith, 1921-24; J. N. Vandiver, 1924-27; W. K. E. James, 1929-31; E. L. Andrews, 1931-35; Jimmy Parrish, 1936-38; Albert A. Stulck, 1938-42; Elbert C. Tyner, 1942-60; Lamar Brooks, 1960-64; Paul Wonders, 1965-70; Thomas N. Langley, 1970-72; Thomas C. Broomall, 1972 to the present.

The following is taken from a 2005 Tampa Tribune article by Carol Jeffares Hedman.

The fourth church on Church Avenue dates to before the turn of the 20th century. First Baptist Church of Dade City’s brick home at 37511 Church Ave., however, dates to 1955 when it was constructed to replace a frame sanctuary that was built in 1900.

It won't be there long. Having outgrown its facilities, First Baptist is looking to build a new church on property on State Road 52.

Organized in 1891 as College Street Baptist Church, the congregation first met in a school building on the street. A church built there in 1892 burned down in 1899. It was rebuilt on the same lot in 1900.

The church was renamed First Baptist Church of Dade City in 1945, about the time nearby College Street was renamed 14th Street.

Additional brick wings to the east and west of the sanctuary were completed in the 1960s.

Additional Notes

On Nov. 14, 1897, the Tampa Tribune reported, “Rev. W. E. Bogart came down from Dade City early last week and is said to have resigned his position as pastor of the Dade City Baptist church and will hereafter be a resident of Plant City.”

On April 7, 1900, the Tampa Tribune reported, “The Baptist Church is nearly completed. The Sunday school will be held in the building next Sunday.”