Richland County · Marker 40-17
First Baptist Church
1306 Hampton St., Columbia
Front inscription
Congregation organized 1809. Original church, built 1811 on Sumter Street corner, was burned Feb. 17, 1865 by Union troops who mistook it for the present church, built 1859, where the Secession Convention had met Dec. 17, 1860. Because of reported smallpox in Columbia, the convention adjourned to Charleston.