On May 15, 1852, eight men and women, including a slave, organized the First Baptist Church of Victoria, elected the Rev. D.B. Morrall as pastor that evening, and held the first baptismal service the following morning. After six months, the Rev. J.A. Kimball, a Northern Baptist missionary, came to serve Victoria and the surrounding area, and the congregation met in the local Methodist Church building while sharing maintenance expenses with that neighboring congregation. Five years after the first church meeting, the Victoria Baptists moved into a new frame structure with a Baptist sanctuary on the ground floor and an Odd Fellows Lodge hall on the second floor. The congregation continued meeting there on Diamond Hill until the Civil War, and records indicate there was only one formal meeting between 1861 and 1877. In 1877, church trustees sold the Diamond Hill property and purchased a new site. In 1878, the congregation bought a steeple bell that had blown into the Gulf of Mexico when a storm hit Indianola; the bell was placed outside the church building and rung before worship services, and it later moved with the congregation to subsequent sanctuaries, including a 1936 structure and a 1960s sanctuary at this site. Over the years, the church has offered worship and education programs to the community, began its Sunday School program in 1897, supported the organization of local mission churches, used its property in recent years as relief shelter for victims of natural disasters, and supported other community programs in a continuing commitment to service.