VA-Q16 First Baptist Church West Main Street

Marker text: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH WEST MAIN STREET

The Charlottesville African Church congregation was organized in 1864. Four years later it bought the Delevan building, built in 1828 by Gen. John H. Cocke, and at one time used as a temperance hotel for University of Virginia students. It became part of the Charlottesville General Hospital and sheltered wounded soldiers during the Civil War. The church members laid the cornerstone for a new building in 1877 on the Delevan site, and the First Baptist Church, West Main Street, was completed in 1883. This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998