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.