Mountain Brook Baptist celebrates 70 years

Mountain Brook Baptist Church first opened its doors two years after the city of Mountain Brook was incorporated.

The church celebrated its 70th anniversary on Sept. 7 with a worship service and distribution of a new history book written by Drs. Lee and Catherine Allen. 

Starting in 1944, the church met in a small house at the corner of Jackson and Vine on a lot now occupied by the Mountain Brook Board of Education. Jackson was not paved, and Vine had not yet been opened except for a short distance around Dexter.

The church meetinghouse had been built in 1927 by Richard A. Knipe, who had operated a convenience store and deli and became a chiropractor. When it became the site of the church in 1944, the house was renovated to make a chapel seating 95 people.

The first pastor, J. O. Colley, and his family, including three preschool-aged children, lived in an apartment attached to the house-chapel. His daughter and son-in-law Ruth Colley and Bryant Strain were sent out in 1968 to establish MBBC’s first daughter church, Brookwood Baptist.  

The current church site was purchased in 1945-46 for $18,500. The purchase included 3.46 acres. The first part of today’s church building was the chapel, constructed in 1949.  

“The church and community have strengthened each other and grown together through these 70 years,” Catherine Allen said. “From studying the history of the church, I have to say that the founders had a vision of strong and service-oriented community that continues to come to realization.”

For more visit mbbc.com.

-Submitted by Catherine Allen