First Baptist Church was organized on Easter Sunday in 1871 by Rev. A. D. Brooks and Col. Lewis Ball, who came to Greenville as missionaries. The congregation initially consisted of eleven members, with Brooks, a native of Missouri, serving as the first pastor. In 1886, a wood-frame church was built at 109-111 North Poplar. The congregation relocated here in 1906 and erected a brick building. A new sanctuary was built in 1954. In 1934, a Mission was established here for the Chinese community.