Central Baptist Church in Tiverton Records (Ms.2018.002)

Biographical/Historical Note

The Central Baptist Church in Tiverton had its origin among members of the First Baptist Church in Tiverton (called the Old Stone Church) living in the Bridgeport section of Tiverton, Rhode Island. The Old Stone Church was on the other side of Tiverton in the Adamsville section and was a General Six Principle Baptist Church. Those in the Bridgeport section organized themselves as a Regular (Calvinist) Baptist Church, erected a meetinghouse about 1807 at the east end of the Stone Bridge, organized officially in December 1808, and joined the Warren Baptist Association in 1809. Initially they were called the Third Baptist Church of Christ in Tiverton, but in 1826 changed their name to the Second Baptist Church in Tiverton after the original Second Baptist Church (founded in 1788) became defunct in 1825. In 1850 the church took the name of Central Baptist Church in Tiverton. The church experienced ups and downs, including nearly closing in 1849. Its real growth occurred after that time, even when the church building that they had erected in 1850 burned in 1886. By 1931 the church had 141 members and increased to nearly 400 by 1958. The church began failing in the last half of the 20th century so that by 1990 the membership had declined by 50 percent. It continued to dwindle, and they were unable to maintain their meetinghouse. They decided to disband, held their final worship service on December 24, 2004 and liquidated the property in 2006. The remnant of the membership merged with the Old Stone Church.