Howell General baptist (Liberty General Baptist)

Liberty General Baptist, more clearly known as Howell General Baptist was founded in 1823 and had started out in a little house that was heated in the winters through a stove. Due to growth in the church, the church has been through several renovations, some that where not tracked through records, though their latest building was built in 1916 and the official last add on to the church being in 1976.

When it comes to looking up this Baptist church, it is best to look it up as the Howell General Baptist instead of Liberty General Baptist as there are two Liberty General Baptist in the city of Evansville. As for the Howell General Baptist it was founded in 1823, organized by Elders Benoni Stinson, George Parker and Lewis C. Stinson. Elder Benoni was not a charter member of Liberty but as he was chosen as pastor he and his wife joined. The original meeting site for the church was located on Carpenter Creek in a little house.

The church had seen several renovations, in fact the church had outgrown two other buildings before they had built the A-frame church in 1891 where it is located at the current location of the church now, however the streets were called Rose and Signal rather than Delmar and Emerson. As for what happened to the A-Frame building there has been a report that a cyclone had taken it out though there is not a lot of evidence to find this true. The thought of them outgrowing the church seems to look more accurate. 

The present brick building was built in 1916 on the site of the old buildings with the help of Clifford Shopbell, a famed architect, a single story church was built. In 1955 they built a Sunday School addition to the north side of the church. In 1976 the church had voted to build a second story onto the Sunday School addition for the cost of $72,000. The church had bought several surrounding buildings such as the Old Daniel Wertz to provide more storage or parking for their members. The location of the Old Daniel Wertz, the church had also decided to use it as ground for their Family Life Center built in 1995.

Liberty General Baptist, Historic Evansville. Accessed November 1st, 2023. https://historicevansville.com/site.php?id=howellbaptist.

Engler, Joe. Century Club: Howell General Baptist, Vanderburg County Historical Society. April 2nd, 2016. Accessed November 1st, 2023. https://www.vchshistory.org/2016/04/03/century-club-howell-general-baptist/.

Howell (Liberty) General Baptist Church, University of Southern Indiana, Rice Library Archives. RH 029-31, 1998  

November 17, 1933 (page 4 of 20). (1933, Nov 17). Evansville Press (1906-1998) Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/november-17-1933-page-4-20/docview/2688092078/se-2 0-