The church petitioned the Franklin United Baptist Association for membership, and sent Isaac McCoy and Thomas Carter as messengers to the Association. The church was accepted on August 25, 1865.
On the following Sunday, the church conducted its first baptismal service. Alfred Bennett McCoy, who had been received as a candidate, was baptized along with A. H. Marschalk, Cyrene Cunningham (daughter of John M. Cunningham), and Zylpha Hargett. This service is said to have taken place in a pond located between the present church site and what is now the intersection of West Main and Court Streets. (Note: This was the Mill Pond used by the Edwards Four Mill)
Elder David Butler was elected to serve as pastor for one year, and the church voted to build the meeting house and spend the first year raising funds for this purpose. Along with Rev. Butler, the church was served by Elder D. G. Young and Rev. John A. Rodman during the first several years of its existence.
Perhaps the greatest controversy during these early years related to the use of an organ. In 1875, the Sunday school asked permission to use an organ in connection with a Sunday school concert to be held in the meeting house. While some members did not approve of the use of a musical instrument in the church, permission was granted. The controversy was reignited in 1880 when some requested use of the organ for the regular Sunday school exercises.
It seems very likely that the organ controversy may have been a primary cause for the low ebb which the church reached in 1884. Apparently the church almost died during that period. They failed to have services of any kind for several months. No records were kept for the year 1884.
Beginning about 1886, after 20 years of struggle for survival, the church began to show signs of growth. Women began to play larger roles and to assume more responsibility and leadership. The activities of the Ladies’ Aid Society began to furnish more financial stability to the church and for the first time there was money to pay the pastor and to carry on other worthwhile Activities. A full time pastor, A. S. Benson, was called in 1892, but the church went back to a three Sundays a month, then to half-time after Pastor Benson resigned ten months later. The church did not maintain full- time preaching until around the turn of the century.
The decade from 1890-1900 was one of steady growth. Especially under the pastorate of W. P. Throgmorton (1904-1906), the church made spectacular gains in membership.
The original name of the church was The Marion United Baptist Church. The present name of the church, the First Baptist Church of Marion, first appears in church records in January, 1903.
Dr. Throgmorton resigned as pastor in 1906 in order to devote more time to serving as editor of The Illinois Baptist.
Some who are still church members remember the golden years from 1915-1925 as a time of great crowds, not only during revivals, but also during regular church services. Regularly, more than 700 people attended worship service and also evening worship. The auditorium, the side auditorium and the balcony were always filled.
The church enjoyed the prestige of having three of the greatest pulpit orators in the state as pastors. Dr. Throgmorton stood like a giant among Baptists and is remembered with respect by all who knew him. Julian Atwood held crowds spellbound week after week with his eloquent and oratorical preaching style. Then, Dr. A. E. Prince accepted the call of the church and carried on in the great preaching tradition of his predecessors.
Warring gangs carried on murderous activities without concern for the rights and safely of innocent citizens in Williamson County during the early decades of this century.
At this time, it was not unusual for the Ku Klux Klan to be closely associated with the church in its fight against these lawless elements. During one Sunday evening service in April, 1924, the Klan visited the First Baptist Church. Dressed in their traditional attire complete with hoods, they marched down the aisle and knelt at the altar. After a brief period, they placed an offering on the table and marched out the other aisle.
The church met the outlaws head-on in a “wet” and “dry” election in 1927. After an election in which the “dry” candidates, most members of First Baptist, had won, the front of the church sustained considerable damage when it was bombed. The person or persons responsible for this bombing were never found.
The Great Depression hit the area and the church very hard. The coal industry, the economic mainstay for the county, suffered extremely heavy losses. The church even lost some money because banks closed.
The church was fortunate to have Rev. R. W. Wallis during this difficult time. He voluntarily reduced his salary to help ease the financial strain. At the same time, Rev. Wallis led the congregation slowly but steadily to increases in enrollment, attendance and gifts.
In March 1938, under the pastorate of George L. Johnson the church reached a long term goal of becoming debt free, the first time in twenty five years.
During the ministry of Rev. Troy V. Wheeler, morning services were first broadcast over station WJPF, Herrin, during the early years of WWII.
In the over 150 year history of the church, it has been served well by over 33 pastors and many interim pastors. The church has also been served capably by a succession of Ministers of Music and Education and Youth, and by church clerks, Sunday School teachers, Directors (Superintendents), deacons, and many others.
Among the many lay persons who have made so many worthy contributions was James H. Felts, a man whose life influenced so many who came to know him. In 1898, J. H. Felts bought half interest in the Johnston City Progress, a newspaper, with R. N. Jones as his partner. Three years later he sold his interest and went into partnership with S. K. Casey in the Egyptian Press, Marion. (See S. K. Casey)
Felts was a deacon in the church, and his primary interest in life centered in Christian religion and his church, of which he was an earnest and active member. He served the church as clerk and was treasurer for more than twenty seven years.
Knowing the financial condition of the church, Felts would advance money, or see that money was forthcoming from some source, to carry on the program of the church, pay the pastor or underwrite a church project. Felts was a great humanitarian, and no one will ever know how many he helped financially and otherwise.
Under the spiritual and capable leadership of a new pastor in 1991, Rev. Kevin Ezell, the church’s programs continue to grow. The women’s missionary groups excel in their impact upon the church. The men’s brotherhood serves the church in many important areas. There is a special ministries department and a deaf ministry to serve those with special needs. A bus ministry operates regularly. The choir and other musical programs throughout the various age groups are especially outstanding.
The First Baptist Church of Marion has served honorably, and continues to serve in its long and distinguished history in the religious life of Marion.
(Photos from Williamson County Historical Society, Edward Bridges Collection and 1989 Sesquicentennial History book. Original article was written for the 1989 Sesquicentennial Book author unknown, revised by Sam Lattuca on 01/05/2013)