First Baptist Church, Protestant church in downtown Augusta, United States

First Baptist Church is a Protestant church building in downtown Augusta featuring Beaux Arts architecture throughout its design. The symmetrical facade displays grand columns and ornate stone work that define its exterior appearance and structural character.

The Baptist Praying Society of Augusta formed in March 1817 with eight men and two women meeting in a private home; two months later it was constituted as a church under William T. Brantley. A brick meeting house dedicated on May 26, 1821, stood on the Greene Street property bought in 1870. In May 1845, 327 delegates from eight southern states and the District of Columbia met here to form the Southern Baptist Convention. The present building was erected in 1902; the congregation moved to Walton Way in 1975.

The Greene Street building hosted the 1845 meeting where 327 delegates from eight southern states and the District of Columbia formed the Southern Baptist Convention. A Georgia Historical Commission marker, number 121-29, was placed outside in 1956 and records the 1817 founding of the Baptist Praying Society by eight men and two women.

The 1902 building stands at 802 Greene Street, between two columns of the portico, where a granite marker erected in 1956 by the Georgia Historical Commission describes the congregation's founding. The congregation left in 1975 for Walton Way, and the Greene Street structure was bought in 2020 for office conversion and exterior restoration, so expect scaffolding and check access before visiting.

The granite marker outside the church was erected in 1956 by the Georgia Historical Commission, numbered 121-29. Its inscription records that eight men and two women met in an Augusta home in March 1817 to form the Baptist Praying Society, and that 327 delegates from eight southern states and the District of Columbia met here in 1845 to form the Southern Baptist Convention.