First Missionary Baptist Church
110 W. Calhoun Street
Thomasville, Georgia
Founded in 1866 by formerly enslaved individuals, the church is one of the oldest African American congregations in the state. Long a spiritual and community center for the local African American population, the church played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 20th century in southern Georgia.
In 1849, the Thomasville Baptist Church (white) was organized, with the congregation comprised of white and enslaved parishioners. In September 1866, African congregants informed church leadership of their desire to establish an independent house of worship with an urban parcel donated by former enslaver, Mr. Alex Smith. The property, located at the corner of Madison and West Calhoun, was a desirable parcel, becoming home to Thomasville’s earliest African American church to be situated within the city’s historic core. First recognized as First African Baptist Church, the name was changed to First Missionary Baptist Church in 1961.
Designed in a modest form of the Queen Anne style, the church is prominently located on a corner lot and is a contributing property to the Dawson Street National Register Historic District (1984). Constructed of brick masonry placed on a raised basement, architectural features include corbelled arches, decorative water table, lancet, stained glass windows, and a crenelated, square-plan bell tower. Requiring ten years to complete construction, the church’s cornerstone was laid in July 1900.
In November 1961, Rev. I.L. Mullins of Chattanooga, TN was named pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church, doubling the congregation to 1,083 members. Committed to the church’s spiritual development, Rev. Mullins was no less dedicated to the community’s economic and political life. Rev. Mullins marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and lead establishment of the Thomasville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). First Missionary Baptist served as the chapter’s headquarters.
As Thomasville’s oldest African American congregation, and one recognized for activity focused on civil rights, First Missionary Baptist has earned a well-deserved reputation as the site where political campaigns are waged – Shirley Chisolm, Michael Thurmond (Georgia’s first African American Labor Commissioner), and most recently Stacey Abrams – have all spoken from the pulpit of First Missionary Baptist. Church leadership regularly leads difficult conversations centered on race, with current pastor, Rev. Jeremy Rich, leading marches and facilitating dialogue during the Black Lives Matter movement. First Missionary Baptist, is without doubt, a critical symbol of Thomasville’s cultural heritage, with its membership committed to its remaining so for generations to come.
In 2025, The Library of Congress and the National Park Service announced winners of the annual Leicester B. Holland Prize, an annual competition that recognizes the best single-sheet measured drawing of a historic building, site or structure prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey. Eric Menninger of EAM Preservation LLC received an honorable mention for his drawing of First Missionary Baptist Church in Thomasville, Georgia.
