PARK BAPTIST CHURCH
5450 W. 41st Street

On the 12th of August, 1943, a group of people from Bethlehem Baptist Church met to consider and discuss the establishment of a Baptist General Conference church in the western Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. A decision was made to start the Park Baptist Church and to find a temporary location to house the new work. An old empty tavern was located [the former Swan tavern at 4649 Excelsior Blvd. at Natchez], and with great effort was cleaned up and made presentable for worship. Later this property was purchased for $62,000.00 plus $500.00 for an adjoining lot. Four families were responsible for the humble beginning. The first parsonage was built at 4624 Vallacher, a block from the temporary site, in 1945.

Thirty-two (32) people attended the first meeting of this new church on Sunday, October 10, 1943. Dedication was held on October 31st of the same year. This church was officially organized as a sister church by a Council of Twin City Conference Churches on April 3, 1944. The charter membership was twenty-two (22).

During September of 1946, several lots were purchased on Vernon Avenue and 41st Street. In November of that same year, two more lots were added. A basement church was built on these lots, which was dedicated on June 6th, 1948. In the fall of 1952, work began on the super structure of the church. Members of the church worked four days a week to do the finish work, such as painting, installing woodwork, and laying tile. The new church was dedicated on November 22, 1953 with Mayor Hurd on hand for the festivities. Membership was 120. The building was variously known as 4093/4095/4097 Vernon Ave. Its official address now, however, is 5450 W. 41st St.

Park Baptist merged with the First Baptist Church of Hopkins in October 1969 to become Cross of Glory Baptist Church. Cross of Glory met at the Park Baptist location until September of 1970 when that site was sold and the church moved to the First Baptist Church of Hopkins site. Cross of Glory’s website is http://gloryonline.org/history.aspx

The new owner of the property in 1970 was the First Foursquare Gospel Church.

From 1977 to 1996, the building was the home of the Evangelic Missionary Fellowship and Messianic Jewish Congregation/Full Gospel Temple/Faith Assembly of God.

In 1996 it was purchased by the First Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church.

Home    St. Louis Park History    History Index    About the Society    Research Resources
Brookside Timeline    Something In The Water    The Re-Echo    Contact Us

This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.