The Street Seen: First Baptist Church (2nd St)
2701 2nd Street @ Hill St
In 1916, the First Baptist Church of Santa Monica moves from a small chapel on Main St to a new building on the corner of 2nd Street and Hill St. In 1958, the congregation leaves Ocean Park.
The small Baptist Church chapel on Main St. near Hollister is long recognized as inadequate. Under the leadership of C. Sidney Maddox,1 in 1916, a new, more substantial Baptist Church is constructed on the southeast corner of 2nd St2 and Hill St.3
Sunday School Superintendent and carpenter, R.S. Marvin,4 is the architect for the new church. The 2-story stucco on wood frame over concrete (partial) basement building is an eclectic mix of neo-Gothic arched windows and double hung windows, neo-classical columns and pediments, corbels on the tower, and a magnificent collection of stained glass windows throughout.5 The main floor mezzanine is suspended from the roof.
While the new church is being built (the Main St chapel having been sold), the congregation meets in a temporary building (a tabernacle) on the rear of the property at 2nd & Hill.6 With the completion of the concrete basement in June 1916, services are held in the new basement, while the remainder of the church is being built above. A one-story Craftsman-style bungalow at 238 Hill Street, used as a parsonage, is constructed in 1916.7
In 1917, the United States enters World War I. As the US mobilizes, there is building material rationing and manpower shortages. The First Baptist Church of Santa Monica is dedicated on June 23, 1918.8 The cost of the building is reported as $20,000.
Ocean Park changes significantly after World War II. By the 1950s, the Ocean Park area is designated as “blighted” and much of the congregation no longer lives in Ocean Park. In 1958, under Pastor Roger A. Chute, First Baptist Church moves away from Ocean Park to a new building at 2601 Pico.9
In 1970, the building becomes the Iglesia El Sermon Del Monte, a Spanish-speaking member of the Assemblies of God church.10
The building is a contributing structure to the 3rd Street Neighborhood Historic District.
Carroll Sidney Maddox (1882 – 1975). Born in Kentucky. Maddox is educated at Baylor University, and in 1908, marries Ida Rae Roe (1884–1969). His first church is in Mesa, AZ. He goes to Bishop, CA, then to First Baptist in Santa Monica (1913 – 1924). In 1916, Maddox moves his residence from 2214 3rd to 2704 3rd St. From 1916 to 1924, he lives in the parsonage at 238 Hill St. Maddox moves to Trinity Baptist Los Angeles (1924 – 1925), West Adams Baptist (1926 – 1940), and then to Southside Bethany Baptist (1940 – 1957). Maddox serves 16 years on the board of the Los Angeles Baptist City Mission Society – four years as president. He retires to Inglewood.
From 1886 to 1917, 2nd St is named Lake St, and then from 1917 to 1970, 2nd St is named Washington Blvd.
The Ocean Park M.E. Church is across Hill St near the northeast corner of 2nd St, and the Methodists and the Baptists are on good ecumenical terms. In 1916, C.S. Maddox of First Baptist and W.J. Boyd of Ocean Park M.E. Church collaborate on the dry (prohibitionist) cause, combining services that alternated between the two churches. Maddox is a speaker at the 1923 dedication of the new Ocean Park M.E. Church.
Robert Samuel Marvin (1875 - 1963). Born in NE, he marries Mabel Clara Barrett (1879 – 1966) in TX in 1898. In 1911, Marvin comes to Santa Monica working as a carpenter. From 1916 to 1917, he lives at 2715 4th St and is First Baptist Church Sunday School Superintendent. In 1918, Marvin leaves Ocean Park for Los Angeles.
Stained glass is popular in churches at that time (1870 - 1930). Local experts believe that Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company (Kokomo, IN) supplied all or mostly all of the original glass.
A $1,000 temporary tabernacle is built on the rear of the 2nd and Hill property using wood recycled from a January 1916 Brown and Curry revival tabernacle at 2nd and Rose.
The one-story Craftsman-style bungalow at 238 Hill Street is constructed in 1916. The residence features a pair of front gables, narrow clapboard siding, exposed rafters, a gable over the front porch, and double-hung wood-framed windows.
The church is dedicated on June 23, 1918, in the midst of WWI. The sermon “Shut Your Mouth and Shoot the Kaiser” decries a suggestion that the churches be closed and the pastors sent to war.
In 1970, Elias C. Fragoso (1935 – 2021) and his wife, Lucrecia Fragoso (1936 – 2011), establish an Assemblies of God mission in the 2nd St and Hill church. In 1974, they are the founding pastors of El Sermon del Monte Church. Iglesia El Sermon Del Monte, founded in Downey in 1964, is a sovereign church under an exemption from the Assemblies of God.