The story of Oglethorpe Baptist goes back to 1847, when sixteen pioneers—four men and twelve women—organized a Baptist church in the small village of Hamburg. Just three years later, the church extended an arm into nearby Oglethorpe, anticipating the arrival of the railroad in 1851. The gamble paid off: Oglethorpe soon swelled into a bustling township of several thousand.

The first record of an established church here is found in minutes referencing the Baptist Church of Cuyler at Oglethorpe. The present sanctuary, built in 1895, is actually the church’s second home. The first service in the new building took place in January 1896, and the tower was added in 1898, at a cost of only $18.60. A baptistry was constructed in 1904, and that same year, three young women became the first to be “buried in this liquid grave.” Church minutes also reveal how funds were distributed that year: one dollar for minutes, one for associational purposes, three for domestic missions, and three for “furrin” missions.

Before the Civil War, the church had an active African American membership. In fact, records show that in 1866, two Black sisters came forward and were received into the congregation. But by 1870, as many freedmen established their own churches, Oglethorpe Baptist formally granted letters of dismission to Black members who wished to withdraw and form separate congregations.

The church continued to thrive into the 20th century, and in the 1950s, the congregation built a new brick sanctuary. The 1895 building was sold to the Seventh Day Adventists, who moved it—intact—to its present location in 1955. An old photograph even shows the church in transit, rolling through town to its new home. Today, the building still stands proudly, well-maintained and serving its community, a testament to the resilience and continuity of small-town faith in rural Georgia.