Second Baptist Church

by Shannon Dade

Wooster’s first historically black church has served as the cultural anchor of the town’s African American community since its founding in 1892.  Over the course of the last 110 years,  Second Baptist Church has grown from a small group of families who held their meetings at the Spink Street firehouse to a congregation of over two hundred. While Second Baptist has grown and changed dramatically over the last century, the church has retained its role as a gathering place and a touchstone of cultural identity for the African American community in Wooster.