Washington Street Missionary Baptist Church
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Washington Street Missionary Baptist Church. Organized 1855 in log cabin near this site, led by George Brent, member Paducah First Baptist Church. Second was frame building, built by slaves, under leadership of Rev. George W. ("Pappy") Dupee, the first pastor constituted on Feb. 4, 1855. See over. Marker donated by the Brotherhood of 1969. (Reverse) Washington Street Missionary Baptist Church - Colonial brick structure built in 1893 under Rev. Dupee, rebuilt in 1942 after fire, when Rev. D. E. King pastor. Cornerstone this edifice laid June 18, 1967 under pastorate of Rev. H. Joseph Franklin, who envisioned building adequate for worship, Christian education. Dedicated August 1969.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Organized in 1855 in a log cabin, this congregation was among the earliest African American Baptist churches in Paducah. Enslaved workers built its second, frame home under the Rev. George W. 'Pappy' Dupee, its first pastor, and a brick church rose in 1893. Rebuilt after a 1942 fire and again in the 1960s, the church has anchored its community for well over a century.
Why it matters
It stands as a living record of African American faith and self-organization from slavery through the twentieth century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The story of this Paducah congregation begins in 1855, on the eve of the nation's great reckoning over slavery. At that time, worship for African Americans — many of them enslaved — was tightly constrained, and yet the impulse to gather, to organize, and to build a church of one's own was powerful and enduring.
That this congregation took shape in a log cabin, and that its second home was a frame building raised by the hands of enslaved workers, tells you a great deal about the era. Faith and community were being built under the hardest of circumstances, in the years bracketing the Civil War.
From those beginnings the church carried on through Reconstruction and into the twentieth century — through the Progressive and modern eras — surviving fire and rebuilding more than once. Its long arc runs straight through the central chapters of the African American experience.
People & events
The congregation was organized in 1855, first led by George Brent, a member of Paducah's First Baptist Church. Its early growth is tied to the Reverend George W. Dupee, remembered affectionately as 'Pappy,' who served as its first pastor and under whose leadership enslaved workers built the church's second, frame home.
The church's later history is written in its buildings. A colonial-style brick structure rose in 1893 under Reverend Dupee. After a fire, it was rebuilt in 1942, when Reverend D. E. King served as pastor.
The story continued into the 1960s. A cornerstone for a new edifice was laid on June 18, 1967, under Reverend H. Joseph Franklin, who envisioned a building suited to both worship and Christian education. It was dedicated in August 1969, the same year a group known as the Brotherhood donated the marker itself — a congregation recording its own long journey.
Its place in the American story
A Black church founded in 1855 and still standing generations later is one of the most important kinds of monuments in American history. In the era of slavery and the long struggle that followed, the independent Black congregation was often the first institution a community could truly call its own — a place of worship, but also of leadership, education, mutual aid, and hope.
The fact that enslaved people built one of this church's early homes with their own hands makes it a testament to endurance and self-organization under oppression. And the repeated rebuilding — after fire, across generations — mirrors the larger national story of African American communities who rebuilt again and again in the face of hardship.
Churches like this one anchored their neighborhoods from slavery through Reconstruction and into the modern civil rights era. To trace this congregation's timeline is to trace the resilience of a people determined to sustain their own institutions no matter what.
If you visit
When you visit in Paducah, let the layers of the building's history come into focus. What stands before you is the result of more than a century of organizing, building, burning, and rebuilding — each chapter marked by a pastor's name and a congregation's determination.
Don't miss that the marker has two sides; the full story runs front and back, carrying you from the log cabin of 1855 to the dedication of 1969. Read them in order and you'll feel the whole span of the congregation's journey.
This is a living church, not a relic, and that is part of what makes it moving. If you're following the threads of African American history through western Kentucky, this site is a rich and rewarding stop — a place where faith and community have held their ground for well over a century.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · George Brent
- · George W. Dupee
Themes & tags
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