Saint Bartley Primitive Baptist Church
Saint Bartley Primitive Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church in Huntsville, Alabama. Bartley Harris (1800 - 1896) served as its minister. He is renowned for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of valuables he hid for his Confederate neighbors and for his mass baptisms in "Big Spring". History
The congregation was established decades before the Civil War and held services in various places including at a graveyard for enslave African Americans. The congregation was led by William Harris, who was a slave. The site is now part of Huntsville Hospital's parking lot. A church was eventually built. It was burned down reportedly after Bartley Harris refused to inform Union Army soldiers on the location of valuables he had hidden for his Confederate neighbors. Ulysses S. Grant reportedly aided in building a new church for Harris' congregation. In 1872, the new church was constructed at Oak Avenue, later renamed William Avenue. Saint Bartley Primitive Baptist Church was torn down in 1964 for an urban renewal project and rebuilt on Belafonte Avenue with part of the altar and some stained glass windows preserved. Legacy

A historical marker commemorates the church's history by its 1872 to 1964 site. In 2020 the congregation celebrated its bicentennial. References

Churches in Huntsville, Alabama
History of Huntsville, Alabama
African-American churches in Alabama
19th-century Baptist churches in the United States
20th-century Baptist churches in the United States
Church fires in the United States
Churches completed in 1872
19th-century establishments in Alabama
Buildings and structures demolished in 1964