Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The First Baptist Church in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, also known as Charlottetown Baptist Church and Charlottetown United Baptist Church was organized with nine members in 1836 by Elder George McDonald who was on a mission from the Nova Scotia Baptist Board. The first baptism in Charlottetown had been in 1827 when Thomas Desbrisay was baptized by Elder Charles Tupper of Nova Scotia. Desbrisay was to be the first deacon of the new congregation and would serve for many years in that capacity. The first pastor was Benjamin Scott who had been ordained at Alexandria, Lot 49 in September 1832. Scott divided his ministry between Charlottetown, Lot 49 and the St. Peter's Road chapel. In 1837 the church was formally united with the Nova Scotia Baptist Association, a relationship which would exist until 1868 when the Island formed its own Baptist Association.
Originally the brethren rented a room for services which would accommodate 100 persons but by 1842 a subscription was started to build a meeting house and the new chapel was opened on 24 August 1845 on the corner of Upper Prince and Euston Streets. In 1853, desirous of a more central location, the chapel was moved to Great George Street and two new deacons were apppointed to assist Mr. Desbrisay. On 14 December 1879, with a membership of over one hundred, a new octagonal brick church opened on the corner of Prince and Fitzroy Streets. Fire destroyed this church, first the tower in 1886 and then the entire building on 15 May 1888. For the next few years the Church worshipped in the YMCA building. A new brick structure which opened its doors in 1891 on the site of the old church served as a place of worship until 1959 when the present church opened on the opposite corner of Prince Street.
Through the years the church grew and prospered reporting a membership of 290 on its 115th anniversary in 1951. It operated a Sunday School, created various committees and church groups to administer various church activities, sent delegates to conferences, hosted special meetings and voted for the union of Baptists and Free Baptists. In 1952 it considered establishing a mission church in the growing Belvedere community but rejected it on the basis of a survey of possible communicants. A Board of Management was instituted in 1953 and in 1955 the Church formulated its first constitution.