Walnut Street Baptist Church

Walnut Street Baptist Church was completed in 1908 and is known for its unique combination of architectural styles and its role as a center for religious life in Waterloo. The congregation constructed a new building in the 1970s and sold this building to another congregation. The building has been vacant since 2010 but as of 2021, a coalition of community organizations is in the process of developing a plan to rehabilitate and repurpose the budling. The building combines a variety of styles including the English Arts and Crafts, Beaux Arts, and the Chicago School styles. Designed by architect Clinton P. Shockley, the church is asymmetrical and triangular in shape, and was built of brick stone and concrete trim. Notable features include three semicircular wings, a complex roof, and a bell tower with columns, gables and a pyramidal roof. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and is a contributing property of the Walnut Street Historic District, which is also listed on the register.

In 1896, a small group of Free Will Baptist church members bought this land and built a small wood-frame church they named the Walnut Street Baptist Church. The congregation grew in the coming years and by the early 1900s, it was clear that a new, much larger structure was needed. The construction of the present building cost $60,000, half of which the church members paid with funds on hand.

Walnut Street Baptist was one of the leading congregations of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, which is one of many Baptist organizations in the country. The church earned a reputation for evangelical outreach and hosted nationally known evangelists such as Billy Sunday and Dr. W.B. Riley. The congregation was one of the largest in Iowa, growing to 900 members by 1915, and it helped establish three other Baptist churches in the Waterloo-Cedar falls area by 1955. The church's striking design reflected the high status that the congregation had achieved.

The congregation built a new church in the early 1970s and sold this building to Faith Temple Baptist Church in 1978. The congregation remained at the church until 2010. By then, the building had deteriorated as a result of a leak in the roof. The Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity bought the church in 2018 to start the process of developing a plan for renovation and future usage of the building.

Eckhardt, Patricia A. "Walnut Street Baptist Church." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/00000983_text.

"History of Walnut Street Baptist Church." Walnut Street Baptist Church. Accessed September 9, 2021. https://www.walnutbaptistwaterloo.com/history.