Aiken First Baptist Church

Front: This church, founded in 1805, predates the city of Aiken and was first called Levels Baptist Church. Its first location was a mile south of present-day Aiken. In 1836 the congregation joined with the members of the Wise Creek congregation to build a sanctuary here, on land deeded by the S.C. Railroad and Canal Co. They renamed their congregation Aiken Baptist Church. The frame church burned in 1876 and was replaced in 1878. Reverse: The third church, a Gothic Revival sanctuary, was built in 1919. The kindergarten, founded in 1946, was one of the first church kindergartens in S.C. The present Classical Revival sanctuary was built and dedicated in 1958. Aiken First Baptist is the mother of four churches: Hispanic, Marion St., Memorial, and North Aiken. Its cemetery, dating from 1838, includes the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.