True North Baptist Church, Formerly Bristol United Baptist Church / Florenceville Baptist Church

Title

True North Baptist Church, Formerly Bristol United Baptist Church / Florenceville Baptist Church

Church Name

True North Baptist Church, Formerly Bristol United Baptist Church / Florenceville Baptist Church

Church Association

Northwestern Association

Province

New Brunswick

County

Carleton

Address

167 Burnham Rd, Florenceville-Bristol, NB E7L 1Z1

Status

Active

Date

Originally built 1820’s; 1838; 1863; 1912; 1939; current building 1989

Historical Information

With expansion and upkeep needed in the historic downtown location of
East Florenceville Baptist Church, and little land available, it was decided to build a new church in Florenceville in the 1980's.

A Baptist church congregation has existed in Florenceville-Bristol since the early part of the nineteenth century. The first congregation would have met and had a church in East Florenceville. The building would have been built no later than the 1820's and was in the meeting house style, a common style among Baptists in early to mid ninetieth century Atlantic Canada. This style is often characterized by its small and rather plain facility, with no steeple, and gothic or neo-classical embellishments. The front entrance was often on the gable end, with either two entrances on the left and right sides of the front façade; one meant for the men and the other for women, or a centrally placed doorway.

In 1838 a Free Christian Baptist Church was built in downtown Florenceville. In 1863 land was purchased on the west side of the river and a new church was built. In 1866 the Florenceville

Baptist Church was organized in West Florenceville as a member of the Regular Baptist denomination. This building still stands but has not been used since the 1970's.

In 1905-06 the denominations of Regular and Free Christian Baptists joined together to form the United Baptist Convention (now Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada). The two East Florenceville churches combined and rebuilt in downtown Florenceville (1912-1913 and 1939 after a fire on February 10, 1938). Included in the original United Baptist Church field (early 1900's) was Connell, Florenceville (West), East Florenceville, and Bristol.

In the 1940's services in Connell were discontinued and the West side church discontinued services in the 1970's with parishioners travelling across the river to East Florenceville. It was in the late 1970's that Bristol and Florenceville Baptist Churches became separate fields.

With expansion and upkeep needed in the downtown location and little land to be found, it was decided to build a new church in Florenceville in the 1980's. The current location (2021) of the congregation is on Burnham Road, which was built and dedicated in March of 1989 as the Florenceville United Baptist Church (which later became the Florenceville Baptist Church in 2001). The building has been added to twice- once in 2002 and again in 2010.

In September 2005 it was decided by both the congregations of Florenceville Baptist Church and Bristol Baptist Church that the two would amalgamate to one church. The Bristol Baptist Church joined the Florenceville Baptist Church at the Burnham Road location.

As the church serves the communities surrounding Florenceville-Bristol they came to the realization that they are no longer just Florenceville Baptist Church but a Baptist church including many communities. In 2014 they began discussing the need to incorporate and as such choose a legal name. Since the congregation is not made up of people from just Florenceville or just Bristol it was decided that a neutral name would be chosen, and True North Baptist Church was agreed upon. The church began operating under that name on January 1, 2017.

The church in East Florenceville appears to be built in the Gothic Revival style, with some additionsto the front façade such as the small one storey entranceway with a classical style round hooded window. The original windows on the building are Neo-Classical in design and feature hooded brow trim boards, a unique architectural feature of the building.

The West Florenceville Baptist Church is a prime example of Classical/Romanesque architecture with its temple pediment form supported by decorative pilasters, medallion window in the centre of the front façade, and saddle-back steeple situated within the main structure of the church, rather than protruding outwards. This church is a prime example of early Classical architecture. It exemplifies the transitional phase of Atlantic Canadian Baptist architecture from meeting house to country church.

The facility built in 1989 is atypical for its time in terms of style. It features few architectural embellishments, a high pitched roof, vinyl siding and vinyl windows, as well as a metal, saddle-back steeple. There are some hints of classical architecture with many of the rooflines being at a 45-degree angle, and the pillars on the drive-thru car port. This style of church exemplifies the

transition Atlantic Canadian Baptist congregations were making from having solely a building for worship, to a space that can be used for multi-purposes with a gymnasium, kitchen, office space. This church facility is used for more than just Sunday worship services; it is a place for people to gather every day of the week.

Image 6 - East Florenceville Baptist Church where the congregation met until 1989

Image  7 - West Florenceville Baptist Church- Built in 1860's

Image 8  - The church at its current location, before the gym was added in 2010

Information provided by the church.

Files

True North 1.JPG
True North Baptist - from Facebook.jpg
True North Window 1.JPG
True North Window 2 Duplicate.JPG
True North Window 3.JPG
ast Florenceville Baptist Church.jpg
West Florenceville Baptist Church.jpg
current location, 2010.jpg
4.jpg

Citation

“True North Baptist Church, Formerly Bristol United Baptist Church / Florenceville Baptist Church,” Atlantic Baptist Built Heritage Project , accessed March 28, 2024, https://atlanticbaptistheritage.omeka.net/items/show/90.

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