Soapstone Church & School

Front: This Baptist congregation likely dates to the 1870s and was organized by Rev. Joseph McJunkin to serve residents of Liberia, a community of newly freed slaves settled after the Civil War. Congregants are said to have first met under a brush arbor. Tradition holds that early members held classes for local children on a nearby soapstone outcropping that gave the church its name. Reverse: By the 1890s, Soapstone Church housed an African American public school. A one-room schoolhouse that still stands may date to the 1920s and served as Soapstone School until it closed in 1953. In 1967, a church built c.1900 burned in a possible arson. It was replaced later that year by the current church. Former members and Liberia residents are buried in two nearby cemeteries.