Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Urban Exploring: The Abandoned "First Baptist Church of McKeesport"

The First Baptist Church of McKeesport was founded in 1820.  Its majestic building, seen here, was constructed in 1904.  My guess is that more than a handful of homeless people are using the old parish hall, in the basement, as sleeping quarters--though none were present when I went through.
 See the brambles growing on the windowsill.  An old book I found online stated that in 1939 the congregation had a membership of 908.  Of course, McKeesport's economy suffered an almost total collapse in the 1980s.  The nearest I can figure, the structure has been vacant since 1990. 
 McKeesport is a little Detroit, with less crime.  I located a 2005 Post Gazette article saying that a black Baptist congregation was attempting to purchase and refurbish this building.  (Apparently that didn't work out.)  The same article estimated that the church had been abandoned for at least fifteen years.  It's really surprising how little information I can find about the church. 
 The strange dots on the ceiling are some kind of fungus.  So much of McKeesport is derelict, but most of the grandest churches are still hanging on, or they've been re-purposed as other things.  The lovely old synagogue up the hill from this place is now a Pentecostal church.  And the old onion dome of the Eastern Orthodox church is still standing tall.
 In its day, this dome was surely a stained glass skylight.  Perhaps it was covered and back-lit when it began to leak.  
 This is the chancel, which would have had a pulpit in the dead center.  All the pews and other furniture have been long-since removed.  The name "Baptist" refers to the fact that this church only baptizes adults, and they do it by dunking them entirely under water.  To the far right of this shot, you can see the strange cistern-like configuration where this rite took place.
 I did find the festering carcass of a raccoon here in the sanctuary, which creeped me out a little.  Whenever you see a dead raccoon out in the open, you can be pretty sure it was hit by a car or died of rabies.  I heard other large rodents scrambling around above the ceiling, and I really didn't want to meet up with any rabid raccoons.
 Look at the elaborately detailed scroll-work on these columns.  This building was truly a landmark.
Baptists are largely branded as right-wing wackos nowadays--like the Westboro Baptist Church, which marches around with signs that say, "God Hates Fags."  But the Baptist faith also has an old and venerable academic and liberal tradition--one that values beauty, and reverence, and social justice.  This progressive wing of the American Baptist Church has largely been eclipsed by conservatism, but it still lives on in places like Riverside Church in New York City and Colgate Rochester Divinity School.  But alas, it does not live on in McKeesport.

13 comments:

  1. I'm so pleased that you've recorded McKeesport's Baptist church, by architect John C. Fulton. Would it be possible for me to use some of your interior views on a blog devoted to the Akron Plan, of which this is a classic example? Thanks.

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  2. I'm so pleased that you've recorded McKeesport's Baptist church, by architect John C. Fulton. Would it be possible for me to use some of your interior views on a blog devoted to the Akron Plan, of which this is a classic example? Thanks.

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    1. Yes, you may certainly use photos from this post on your blog. I look forward to visiting a blog dedicated entirely to the Akron plan! I did see three balconies overlooking the sanctuary but did not think they had been classrooms.

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    2. I hope you'll visit my blog (devoted entirely to the Akron-Auditorium plan that seems to interest us both) at buildingthesocialgospel.wordpress.com. Feel free to leave comments.

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    3. I hope you'll visit my blog (devoted entirely to the Akron-Auditorium plan that seems to interest us both) at buildingthesocialgospel.wordpress.com. Feel free to leave comments.

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  3. I'm here in PA for two more days. Did you have to contact anyone to let you in? Were there any trespassing signs? How did you get in?

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    1. While the Editorial Board here at S&J does not encourage or condone trespassing, the 1st Baptist Church sits entirely open and w/o any signage indicating that it's off limits to visitors. The main entrance into the narthex is on Olive St., and you could enter that way. On the opposite side of the building, there's an entrance just off a public parking lot into the parish hall.

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  4. I have been taking photos of McKeesport for a project I'm working on for my job over the past week. I saw this church as I was driving around and was astounded by its beauty. The Day Care sign on the back had me chuckling "Uh, no..." to myself. I did not brave going inside, so thanks for posting. I love doing a bit of urban exploring and I have been thinking about, I don't know, getting a "team" together to go explore cool stuff like this. Safety in numbers, I suppose.

    There was also a super cool old brick house/mansion on Market and 6th(?), which I found out was torn down and replaced with a little parklet. Green space us great, but I was saddened as that old house had so much character, just like the church. I kept driving around trying to find it and thought maybe it was the rectory now rehabbed. But I just found it on Google Maps and it is indeed gone. It looked like a hell of a lit of work to rehab, so it's probably for the best!

    Dee

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  5. I have been taking photos of McKeesport for a project I'm working on for my job over the past week. I saw this church as I was driving around and was astounded by its beauty. The Day Care sign on the back had me chuckling "Uh, no..." to myself. I did not brave going inside, so thanks for posting. I love doing a bit of urban exploring and I have been thinking about, I don't know, getting a "team" together to go explore cool stuff like this. Safety in numbers, I suppose.

    There was also a super cool old brick house/mansion on Market and 6th(?), which I found out was torn down and replaced with a little parklet. Green space us great, but I was saddened as that old house had so much character, just like the church. I kept driving around trying to find it and thought maybe it was the rectory now rehabbed. But I just found it on Google Maps and it is indeed gone. It looked like a hell of a lit of work to rehab, so it's probably for the best!

    Dee

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    1. Thanks, Dee. Let us know when your work project about McKeesport goes public. We'd love to see it. Isn't it a tragedy? If a foreign power did this to our cities, we'd be at war. But we take it sitting down from our own greedy plutocrats who can make themselves more money by sending manufacturing overseas...

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  6. Completely agree!

    My video project is almost complete and will be posted to facebook soon. I'll let you know when.

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  7. I was a member of the First Baptist Church as a teenager in the late 1950's. It was fantastically beautiful. Looking up at the stained glass dome was awesome. The massive pipe organ sounded wonderful as I sang in the choir shortly. Rev. Herbert W. Mountain, a large man was our minister. My Sunday School teacher was Dario Pigozzi, who lived in Greenock and would drive to our house in Buena Vista to bring me and my brother to church. Foe entertainment, we had a dart ball team and would compete with other churches in the area. We had a bake sale one year and delivered baked goods in out pick up truck. Left the church in 1959 when I went off to the Navy. Such a shame it is completely gone now. Just a vacant field. After McKeesport lost the steel mills, everything went to h***.I live in Mesa, AZ now and am almost 80 years old but I do miss the "old" McKeesport.

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