Union Baptist Church incorporated on May 10, 1852 as the second-oldest Negro Baptist church in Baltimore. This structure was built at a cost of $51,256 and dedicated on December 17, 1905. Architect William J. Beardsley designed the church in a Late Victorian/Second Gothic Revival style and incorporated stained glass windows created by John LaFarge.
Under Reverend Dr. Harvey Johnson's leadership (1872-1923), Union Baptist Church established fifteen area churches and the Colored Baptist Convention of Maryland in 1898. On June 22, 1885, he organized the Mutual United Brotherhood of Liberty (MUBL), the model for the Niagara Movement. On October 10, 1885, Johnson persuaded the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City to admit Everett J. Waring, the first Negro lawyer to practice in Maryland. Johnson's wife Amelia, an author and editor for the National Baptist Publishing Board, wrote the forward to Johnson's 1903 book The Nations: From a New Point of View.
The Harvey Johnson Community Center was built in 1955 under the leadership of Reverend Dr. Baxter Matthew, the church's eight pastor.
Reverend Vernon Dobson was the church's ninth pastor (1967-2007). A civil rights leader and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dobson helped form the "Goon Squad" that ran African American candidates for elective office. Dobson
was also one of the founders of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD).
Reverend Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr., the church's tenth pastor, was born at 1211 Druid Hill Avenue.
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor—Baltimore City Landmark, National Register of Historic Places.
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