Erected in 1801 by Augusta's first Methodist Society and moved to this location in 1844, this building became the home of Springfield Baptist Church, which had been organized in 1787 by Jesse Peters and is the oldest independent African-American church in the nation. The church helped bridge the transition between slavery and free citizenship, stood as a focus for black community life, and its building is the major landmark remaining from Springfield's early free-black community. When a new brick church was built in 1897, the original structure was moved to the rear of the lot. Springfield Church also helped establish many black institutions. In 1867, Morehouse College, the nation's only all-male, historically black undergraduate institution, was founded in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church as Augusta Institute by William Jefferson White at the request of Richard Coulter and Edmund Turney, while Henry Watts was serving as pastor. The school moved to Atlanta in 1879 and was renamed Morehouse College in 1913.