Second Baptist Church of New Albany, Indiana, is a historic church building located at 300 East Main Street, within the New Albany Downtown Historic District. It was constructed in 1852 as Second Presbyterian Church, in what was then the largest city in Indiana. It is near the Ohio River, across the border from Louisville, Kentucky and was a station on the Underground Railroad. The Second Presbyterian Church had broken away from the First Presbyterian Church. Both churches were located a block away from one another, and both churches were anti-slavery with Black members. In 1889, the Black Baptist congregation now known as Second Baptist Church had a membership that included many former slaves that purchased the building, we now know as Second Baptist Church, New Albany.

 

Second Baptist Colored Church (also referred to as Town Clock Church) was organized on March 28, 1867 in Woodward Hall on Main Street by founder Rev. C. Edwards. During the fall of that year Sabbath Sunday School was organized with about 100 members. Some of the original members were George Cole, David Cole, Isabella Williams, Unitary Murphy, E. Howard, A. McCruther, G. D. Williams, M. Sales and Simon Hall. In 1868 the congregation erected a frame church that cost $1,800. The church was prosperous because former slaves, with their pennies, nickels and dimes trusted the Lord. God did what He said He would do. 

 

Between the years of 1882 -1937 there is very little history recorded about Second Baptist Colored "Town Clock" Church until Rev. H.A. King accepted the call to pastor Second Baptist Church right after the 1937 flood. The church received considerable damage, and Rev. King worked with the members to make the necessary flood damage repairs. There were six young men of the congregation licensed to preach during his pastorage.

 

Rev. Herman A. King served as a dual role of minister and leader in the Negro’s social struggle. Quoted in the Courier-Journal of Sothern Indiana, Rev. King stated, “There is a strong relationship between the two positions of being a pastor “Christian Principles” and “Social Order”. Rev. King was the president of the New Albany unit of the National Association for The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In February 1960 the congregation found the 100-year-old structure too costly to maintain and efforts to preserve the building as a landmark were fruitless so the building was placed on the market for sale. But there were some ordinary people who did extraordinary things during a time when the impossible became possible. A small congregation remained, and as Sister Geneva Wilkerson would say “[they were] small in numbers but big at heart” and they were able to keep the building.
 

In 2001 Rev. Stephen A. Mimms, who served as Pastor of Second Baptist Church for 30 years started the campaign to save the clock tower with about 68 church members. Until the early 1900's the church’s clock tower was considered the official time piece of the area, and used by riverboat pilots as an identification point to get their bearings as they navigated the Ohio River, and of course prior to the Civil War the church served as a stop on the Underground Railroad as enslaved people risked their lives for freedom.

In 2009 Rev. LeRoy V. Marshall Jr. was called as pastor and one of the first things the church had to overcome was how to maintain the building. In 2013 a partnership between Second Baptist Church (with 12 members) and the Friends of the Town Clock Church was formed to help maintain the historic building. The members on record at the time were Rev. Stephen Mimms (Pastor Emeritus), First Lady Mrs. Mary Mimms, Mrs. Geneva Wilkerson (Treasurer), Deacon Frederick Douglas, Sis. Barbara Goode, Sis. Mary Byrd, Sis. Monica Sutton, Sis. Charlotte Hearn, Bro. Richard Yates, Bro. Raymond Caldwell, and Sis. Louise Pinkston. The steeple was replaced and the clock tower was restored with bells tolling every hour and half hour. Additionally, extensive work restoration has taken place on the exterior and interior of the building and a new apartment building and meeting space was erected and completed next door to the church in 2023.

From 1867 until now in 2024, Second Baptist Church remains a beacon of hope and a place of solitude for all in the community. Like we were to the enslaved seeking freedom, we remain a light for those who have lost their way from The Light; we can lead them to the light of Jesus Christ. We don’t believe it is by accident that we are still worshipping at 300 East Main Street in New Albany, Indiana. 

 

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which God prepared in advance for us to do.