First Baptist Church originated in 1817 as First African Baptist Church. First African Baptist Church was the first Protestant church for African Americans in St. Louis. John Berry Meachum, a former slave, founded the church in 1825, and had the first building built in 1827. He also opened a day school disguised as a Sunday school. Tuition was a dollar a month, but no one was ever turned away, not even slaves. He remained their pastor until his death in 1854, and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery. First Baptist Church moved to its present location in 1917.
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