in 1867 on capitol hill, a group of people came together to pray for a church to be started in their area. the church would one decade later become known as the metropolitan baptist church. in 1878, it had 31 members. in the coming years, the church grew. in 1912 the church finished working on the new main hall. their then current pastor dr. john compton ball oversaw the church membership increase, it numbered in the thousands by 1950. over the next several years, the membership slowly dropped, and hit a low of around one hundred people, in the early 1990s. in recent years the church has grown to a much bigger church.