Mrs. Carrie Clarke was an influencer in the Orange Park community in the early 1900s. The very beginning of our church can be traced back to a children’s Bible study Mrs. Clarke held on the front porch of her home. That house is now owned by the Town of Orange Park and is the centerpiece of Clarke House Park on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park.

Mrs. Clarke and her husband were influential residents of the town and while there were other churches in Orange Park at the time, there was no Baptist church. Mrs. Clarke was a Baptist. Thus, she set her mind to starting a Baptist church here in Orange Park.

On May 1, 1921 the First Baptist Church was founded. First Baptist was sponsored by Woodlawn Baptist Church in Jacksonville. We initially met in the Orange Park Town Hall for our services. However, it was not long before property located on Kingsley Avenue near the St. Johns River was purchased. This property was sold at auction and when the bidding began Mrs. Clarke bid one dollar. The gavel hit immediately and our first property was secured.

The first pastor of our church, W.O. Kearsey, split his time preaching here in Orange Park and at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Beach while a student at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. The travel conditions at the time were nothing compared to today, so his journey to the Jacksonville area each weekend was not a simple two-hour drive.

By 1930 the church had sixty-eight members. Orange Park had 600 residents. Over the next twenty years, our town grew to over 1,500 residents. Our first permanent block and stucco building was begun in 1950 and first services in the new worship building was May 27, 1951.