Paris Baptist

Paris Baptist

Old Church Cornerstone

Part of the cornerstone of the former Baptist Church building on West Caldwell Street in Paris was discovered this week when a workman was tearing out an unused back stairway in the present building, constructed in 1916.

It evidently was brought from the old church building when it was torn down around 1919 and the bricks used for what is now an apartment house, across the street from the Presbyterian Church, and was placed under the stairs, which were later boxed in, leaving the stone where it could not be reached.

Evidently, the plate was originally fastened to the cornerstone of the old building, it reads:

First Baptist Church

Organized 1831

Rebuilt 1887

In the same enclosed and inaccessible closet was an old serving tray and a few other older articles.

The inscribed stone is being preserved.