1947 drawing 1
Brookside Baptist Church was a Baptist church in the Laurel, and Allendale before that. It was around from at least 1939 to at least 1989.
The church started as two churches, Allendale Baptist Church and Forest Hill Baptist Church. The Allendale church went back to c.1911; the Forest Hill church started as the outgrowth of a Sunday school on Forest Hill Ave. c.1924. In 1939, they merged to become Allendale-Forest Hill Baptist Church, at 3600 Penniman Avenue. In 1940, they changed the name to Brookside Baptist Church. William E. Appleberry was the pastor. He had been pastor of the Allendale church since at least 1935.
They had plans to build a new building, going so far as to purchase a new organ, but that didn't happen until after WWII. In 1947, they announced plans for a new building at 3300 MacArthur Blvd. The $100,000 structure was designed by Charles W. McCall. 1 Beginning in March 1948, they met in the Hopkins Theater while the new building was completed. Finally, in January 1949, they began meeting in the new building.
Appleberry was pastor for many years. A.O. Odegaard became interim pastor in May 1959, and Rev. V.O. Baldwin became the new pastor in August 1959. At the end of 1960, it was announced that Rev. James Baldwin (unrelated to V.O.) would be the new pastor. James Baldwin served until c.1972. At some point they started using the tagline, "The Church that Cares."
In 1973, they had several temporary pastors: Gordon L. Green (January), Charles E. Hancock (April), B.G. Jacobson (May), and Ron Cary (December). 1974 started off the same, with Harry Gilbert (January), and Edward Steeves (January). In February 1974, H. Ray Miller was installed as pastor.
Links and References
- Men At Work Oakland Post-Enquirer July 7, 1947
