About Us

 

In 1795 at number 12 Oliver Street in the City of New York the Oliver Street  Baptist Church first opened it's doors for worship.in lower Manhattan. The Church since then had changed it's name to the Mariners Temple, and is still at that location.  It was in 1832 that a group from the congregation split from the Oliver Street Baptist Church. They rented a hall on Broadway in Manhattan and the young Rev. William R. Williams began conducting Services while the planned to build church of their own.

                                           

                                                     

                                              Rev. William R. Williams (Circa 1857)

 

Two years later in 1834 they leased a parcel of land on Amity Street, where they built the original Amity Street Baptist Church. With the early industrial era, lower Manhatten became a place less desirable for churches, and many sold their properties in that area to be able to build uptown.  It was during this time that Amity Street Baptist Church sold their property and moved to new grounds on West 54th Street. Since the new location was no longer geographically relevant, the congregation changed the name simply to Amity Baptist Church.

 

The current building was probably built around 1853 as St. Timothy Protestant Episcopal Church. Around 1867 St. Timothy established a mission Chapel on west 56th at Eighth Avenue, which may have been about the time Amity Street Baptist Church purchased the property, changing it's name to simply Amity Baptist Church.  This building still retains the original Board - and - batten siding under it's shake siding.