Mount Pleasant Baptist Church #2 - Ambler, PA
- Yen Ho
- May 1
- 2 min read
The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church was originally located in Whitpain Township, but the church found its new home in Ambler during the time of its founding. Despite moving to Ambler, the people who attended the original church in Whitpain still paid annual visits to its first location to celebrate its original founding.
The Original Mount Pleasant Baptist Church
The first known record of a Baptist sermon being preached in our area was in Spring House in 1828 by Rev. John S. Jenkins. There was great interest in his preaching, and regular meetings were held there. The church started under the care of the Lower Providence Baptist Church. It worked with Rev. Jenkins and the other two reverends to baptize four people.
Around that time, the Sabbath school was established, and meetings were held privately at people's homes. Then Jacob and Ann Conard of Centre Square took interest in these meetings, and offered their home for people to worship. A meeting was held on April 20, 1834 at the home of Phillip Mathias, with 15 members from Whitpain and Lower Providence townships, to discuss a need to establish a church. It was officially recognized as an independent church on May 24, 1834.
Dr. Thomas and Hannah James, owners of the famed Dawesfield estate, donated 3/4 of their land to the church, and it was built. In October 1834, the church was received into the Philadelphia Baptist Association. In 1866, it was remodeled with the cost of $3,000.
A New Baptist Church
In November 1872, a mission school was established in Ambler at the home of George W. Lowery (1832-1896). In 1873, a lot was purchased, but it wasn't until 4-5 years later the church was built on Spring Garden street at a cost of $2,500. In 1887, the services held at Whitpain were transferred to Ambler. In 1888, the parsonage was built that cost $3,000.
Fun Fact # 1: George W. Lowery was the son in-law of Jacob and Ann Conard, the people who contributed to the original Baptist church. He married their daughter Euphemia.
With the church's growth and improvement, the congregation built a new church in 1892 that cost $14,000.
Despite the old church being abandoned, people still went back to the original location to celebrate its founding.
Bibliography
"Back to the Old Church Home." Ambler Gazette. May 30, 1907. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_4651.
"Interesting History. Records of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church of Ambler." Ambler Gazette. June 6, 1901. Page 2. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_2126.
Quattrone, Frank D. Ambler. (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004): 46-49.
"The North Philadelphia Association." Ambler Gazette. September 30, 1909. Page 2. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_5978.
"Whittock's Whitpain." Wissahickon Valley Historical Society. Accessed June 20, 2024. https://www.wvalleyhs.org/whittocks-whitpain/.
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