History

On December 14, 1871, seventeen believing persons seeing the need for a new Baptist Church in the City of Springfield, with a then growing population and by regular Baptist procedure, set out to organize this new church. The organizing meeting was held at Cook’s Hall on 6th Street and Adams. Being united in their quest to organize, the name Union Baptist Church was adopted for this new congregation.

Among those present were, The Reverend John Livingston, The Reverend L. A. Coleman and three lay members who would later become Union’s first Deacons: Brothers Thornton Coleman, Sr., James Yaber and James Johnson.

1871 – 1874 Services held at Cook’s Hall
• Reverend John Livingston was the organizer and thus became the first pastor of Union Baptist Church.
1874 – 1879
• 2nd Pastor – Reverend L. A. Coleman
1879 – 1889
• 3rd Pastor – Reverend J. A. Raymond
• 4th Pastor – Reverend R.T. Robinson
1889 – 1894
• 5th Pastor – Reverend Bulford Hillman
1894 – 1897
• 6th Pastor – Reverend J. T. Caston
1897 – 1899
• 7th Pastor – Reverend George H. McDaniels
1899 – 1903
• 8th Pastor – Reverend T. L. Smith (resigned in 1903 to pastor 1st Baptist Church in Quincy, IL)
1903 – 1907
• 9th Pastor – Reverend J. B. Underwood
• 10th Pastor – Reverend M.R. McClelland (served for only 3 months)
1907 – 1908
• 11th Pastor – Reverend S. C. Manuel
• Served greatly for nearly 1-year until his former church in New Albany, IN. requested his return for their salvation. Pastor Manuel offered to resign from Union to return to Second Baptist, but the membership refused his resignation and granted him a one-year leave of absence. He spent three years at his former church and was called to the Fifth Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. in November 1911).

1908 Race Riot
• 1908 was a year of turmoil for the City of Springfield. The city was and the African American Community was torn apart by the 1908 Race Riot. Two innocent    black men were lynched, and many black-own businesses and home were burned by a white mob angered over the false allegations of a white woman that she was raped by a black man. This mob rampaged thru the black community and at one point set their sights on burning down Union Baptist Church, which at that time was the upstanding church in the black community. The church was spared when the mod was redirected to the Spring and Edwards Streets home of William Donigan, a well to do black shoemaker who was married to a white woman. Donigan was dragged from his home, his throat slashed, and he was lynch in Edwards School yard across the street from his home. The riot led to the formation of the (NAACP) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

1908 – 1914
• 12th Pastor – Reverend B. M. Ivy
• 13th Pastor – Reverend E. Calvin Cole
1914 – 1945
• In 1914 Rev. Stolford Costen Manuel was once again called to serve as pastor of Union Baptist Church. Upon his return, he found the church in a very low state spiritually and financially and the membership attendance was weak. His return lifted the spirits of the congregation and the LORD infused new life into the church. The building itself was in disrepair and he began to investigate the possibility of building a new house of worship.

• The church continued to thrive under the leadership of Pastor and Mrs. Manuel. In 1940 the Union Baptist Church along with St. John’s Church were forced to sell the existing property to the Springfield Housing Authority and relocate to make way for the Federal Public Housing Project planned for Springfield. By this time Rev. Manuel’s health had begun to gradually fail, but along with his loyal membership he said, “with God’s help, he would build the new church”. Brother Frank Cason, a member of the Building Committee discovered and presented to the church the lot at 14th and Monroe Streets. We started out in God’s name to build a new edifice on the new site; and even though sailing was not always smooth he always said, “God will let me live long enough to build the new church, preach the first sermon and pay for the church, then I will be ready to go on to Heaven”. And God granted him that prayer request. In 1945, the church was finished and paid for in full, and with a nice bank account to the credit of Union Baptist Church by the grace of God.

• On Sunday morning, November 4, 1945 at St. John’s Hospital, with his loyal devoted wife and his son Orville at his bedside, God quietly entered the room and just as Rev Manuel lived quietly and serenely, He quietly moved from labor to rest our beloved Pastor, teacher , father and friend. Pastor Stolford Costen Manuel faithfully server The Union Baptist Church and the Springfield community for a total of 35 years to the Glory of God.

1946 – 1967
• 15th Pastor – Reverend Dr. J. Alfred Wilson
• On the 18th of January 1946, the officers and members of Union Baptist Church extended the call to the Rev. J. Alfred Wilson. At the time Reverend Wilson was ministering to the Calvary Baptist Church in Monmouth, IL. where he had faithfully served for five years. Reverend Wilson and his dedicated wife Mrs. Annie Lucile Lindsay Wilson were parents of six children, two of which were living at the time of his call to Union.

• Rev. Wilson plunged immediately into the work the LORD had set before him. Within twelve months of his arrival, a new parsonage had been constructed, a new heating plant installed to heat both Church and parsonage. Other physical improvements including air conditioning and musical instruments were added, making ours one of the most modern churches in the State. Additional property and a bus for church transportation were purchased.

• On September 19, 1967, Dr. Wilson answered the call of his Master and went home to live with God.

1968 – 2000
• 16th Pastor – Reverend Dr. Rudolph S. Shoultz
• On January 15, 1968, the Reverend Doctor Rudolph Samuel Shoultz, was unanimously selected to be our next Pastor. Dr. Shoultz, his wife, Vera, and two children, Tony and Michele moved into the church parsonage on April 1, 1968.

• Dr. Shoultz, a great leader and dynamic messenger of God, who was filled with the Holy Ghost, wasted no time taking Union to higher heights. In June 1970, ground was broken for construction of an education facility and remodeling was begun on the sanctuary.

• Among the attributes under Dr. Shoultz were, opening the Union Baptist Day Care Center in 1970 and the Radio Broadcast which began in February in 1973, on WTAX-1240 AM. Property east of the church to the corner of 15th and Monroe was purchased for off-street parking and a playground; it was paid off in nine years and dedicated on November 5, 1979. In 1981, Union Baptist Church paid off in nine years and nine months, the over one quarter of a million-dollar loan for the Educational Building, originally set up for a 20-year mortgage. The mortgage was burned in 1982.

• In 1988, the Union Baptist Soup Kitchen began and soon evolved into the UBC Food Pantry.

• Through a partnership with regional developers, the church was able build a 24-unit Senior Citizen low-rise apartment complex which was opened on March 10, 1991.

• The vision of expanding the sanctuary and building a school with twelve classrooms to aid in the Christian Education Ministry, (Project 2000), was put into action by Dr. Shoultz in 1998, but due to his illness, he knew that the Lord likely would not allow the vision to be fully realized in his lifetime.

• On March 3, 2000, after a long illness, surrounded by his devoted wife Vera, family members, faithful church members and friends, Rev. Dr. Rudolph Samuel Shoultz, was called home to be with The Lord.

• The day of the funeral services a full contingent of City and Illinois State Police closed off city streets as they escorted the funeral procession from Union Baptist Church to Oak Ridge Cemetery where he was laid to rest on a hillside in the shadow of President Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb.

2002 – Present
• 17th Pastor – Reverend T. Ray McJunkins
• Reverend T. Ray McJunkins accepted the call as pastor of Union Baptist Church on July 31, 2002, becoming only the fourth pastor in 96 years of Union Baptist Church’s history. Pastor McJunkins, wife Dietra and daughter Chelsea, moved to Springfield in August 2002.

• Pastor Mac, as he is affectionately called, continued with the Lord’s plan to expand our facilities so that we can minister not only to our membership, but to the community as well. In addition, he has enhanced the role of Christian Education and thus the Church is growing both spiritually and physically.

• Groundbreaking in June 2004 for a new $4.5 million, 40,000 square foot facility; including new sanctuary, educational wing, and Family Life Center (Gymnasium).

• The building program saw the fruits of its labor when the first service was held in the new Sanctuary on Christmas Day, December 25, 2005. Through Pastor McJunkin’s leadership by the grace of God, the now 60,000 square foot facility has enhanced the ministry of Union Baptist Church and provides a venue for ministry outreach on local, regional, and national levels. Union Baptist Church facility often referred to as “The 1405” encompass a one block radius of Monroe and Adams Streets north and south with 14th and 15th Streets east and west. The 24-unit Senior Citizen low-rise apartment complex which was opened on March 10, 1991, encompasses the adjacent block of Adams and Washington Streets and 14th and 15th Streets. The ministries of Union Baptist Church at “The 1405” serves the entire city of Springfield while holding fast to our Mission/Vision Statement: “We, the Union Baptist Church, are committed to meeting the needs of the total person; the physical, the spiritual, as well as a concern for the social and economic wellbeing. Through the preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the form of both an outreach and inner ministry, the kingdom will be advanced, and humanity will be made whole.”