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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH OF EVANSTON AND PROCLAIMING NOVEMBER 13, 2022 SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH OF EVANSTON DAY IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, Second Baptist Church, the first black Baptist church organized in Evanston, Illinois, is celebrating its 140th anniversary in November 2022; and
WHEREAS, Second Baptist was established on November 17, 1882, with twenty charter members in a room over the post office, which was located east of the alley on Davis Street between Chicago and Orrington Avenues. Many were well-respected members of the community, and several owned their own businesses. The organizing pastor was the Reverend S. T. Clanton, a student at the Baptist Union Theological Seminary in Morgan Park, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, this group of former slaves consisted of ten members of the predominantly white First Baptist Church (Nathan and Ellen Branch, Daniel and Mary Garnett, George and Maria Robinson, Andrew and Susan Scott, Richard Day and William Enders) and ten other Village residents. Throughout its history, numerous church members have been trailblazers in business, medicine, education, politics, and entrepreneurship; and
WHEREAS, in September 1883, the church acquired the former Dempster Street Schoolhouse (at the northeast corner of Hinman Avenue and Dempster Street). The structure was moved to a lot leased from Northwestern University on Benson Avenue, north of Church Street. After a fire destroyed that building in September 1889, the members purchased the former Second Methodist Episcopal Church edifice in North Evanston (on West Railroad Avenue at Lincoln Street) in 1890. A land swap with Northwestern University, facilitated by founding member Nathan Branch, allowed the congregation to buy the Benson lot and move the building there. The church began construction of its current brick building in late 1912. It was dedicated in December 1915 as the congregation commemorated its 33rd anniversary; and
WHEREAS, since its esta...
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