African-American members of Big Buckhead Baptist Church founded Carswell Grove Baptist Church in 1867 and constructed the first permanent structure about 1870. The church was named in honor of Porter Carswell, who donated the land. On April 13, 1919, it was destroyed by arson during an outbreak of racially charged community unrest. Fueled by social changes following World War I, the incident was part of "The Red Summer," eight months of nationwide racial violence affecting more than two dozen cities, including Chicago and Washington, D.C. After the 1919 unrest, Carswell Grove was rebuilt. To accommodate the church's growth, an updated church facility was erected in 2008 adjacent to the historic structure. The historic 1919 building, which had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, was destroyed by arson in 2014.