First Baptist Church Archaeology with Everyone's Blessing
Testing the First Baptist Church Site at Colonel Allensworth SHP
Associate State Archaeologist Allensworth, California's only
planned black community, was established in the San Joaquin
Valley in 1908. The town, named for the best known of its
founders, Col. Allen Allensworth, flourished for only a few
years. Col. Allensworth's accidental death, relocation of the
rail shipping center which had provided a strong economic base
for the town, and drying wells brought the colony's agrarian
dream to a close in the 1920s. Allensworth continued as a
settlement, however, and its core area, now designated a State
Historic Park, commemorates the pioneer community.
Interpretation of Allensworth as it stood from ca. 1910 to 1918,
at the height of the town's activity, required the restoration
or reconstruction of salient buildings in the core area.
Currently, work is underway on the planned construction of the
First Baptist Church. Built in 1916 as a denominational