Second Baptist Church of Falls Church and Cemetery
Title
Second Baptist Church of Falls Church and Cemetery
Date
Church dedicated July 26, 1926. The cemetery is older.
Description
The red-brick building with steep-pitched roof and cupola-shaped bell tower was built in 1926. It has a brick 1970 addition for church activities and offices. Old one-story building has full basement, 10,800 sq. ft. Both roofs are shingled.
Elder Hiram Reed planned and organized the church in his two-room log cabin, located on Lee Highway (Washington Street). The cabin was later owned by William Henderson, an ancestor of Dr. E. B. Henderson.
Reed persuaded Civil War veteran Robert Johnson to become a minister. Johnson was named the first minister of second Baptist in 1870. The church building was used as a school during the week. Elder Reed became the pastor of First Baptist Church, now known as Columbia Baptist Church, a White church in Washington, D.C.
Second Baptist church was organized in 1871 by formerly enslaved and free Blacks. The Rev. George W. Powell was the guiding force behind construction. He became minister of the congregation in 1900. Construction began in 1921 but it progressed slowly until members took a $4,000 loan from the nearby Methodist church. Powell and five Baptist families took out mortgages on their own homes to secure the loan. Fund-raising activities allowed the congregation to pay off the loan within three years. In 1929 they burned the mortgage and placed the ashes in the church vault.
The cemetery, located behind the church, is the resting place of many prominent Black residents of Falls Church including James Lee and Francis Forrest Foote. Cemetery is FX136 in Fairfax County cemetery survey. The cemetery was enlarged in the late 1920s.
Reportedly there also may be an associated black cemetery.
Elder Hiram Reed planned and organized the church in his two-room log cabin, located on Lee Highway (Washington Street). The cabin was later owned by William Henderson, an ancestor of Dr. E. B. Henderson.
Reed persuaded Civil War veteran Robert Johnson to become a minister. Johnson was named the first minister of second Baptist in 1870. The church building was used as a school during the week. Elder Reed became the pastor of First Baptist Church, now known as Columbia Baptist Church, a White church in Washington, D.C.
Second Baptist church was organized in 1871 by formerly enslaved and free Blacks. The Rev. George W. Powell was the guiding force behind construction. He became minister of the congregation in 1900. Construction began in 1921 but it progressed slowly until members took a $4,000 loan from the nearby Methodist church. Powell and five Baptist families took out mortgages on their own homes to secure the loan. Fund-raising activities allowed the congregation to pay off the loan within three years. In 1929 they burned the mortgage and placed the ashes in the church vault.
The cemetery, located behind the church, is the resting place of many prominent Black residents of Falls Church including James Lee and Francis Forrest Foote. Cemetery is FX136 in Fairfax County cemetery survey. The cemetery was enlarged in the late 1920s.
Reportedly there also may be an associated black cemetery.
Creator
Hiram Reed
Source
Fairfax County Cemetery Survey https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library_cemeteries/Cemetery.aspx?number=FX136
Falls Church, By Fence and Fireside, Melvin Lee Steadman, Jr., November 1964, Library of Congress Catalog Number: 64-8065; pp. 213-215; Falls Church City Public Library. www.sbcfallschurch.org/history
Fairfax County Deed Book N4, p 164. Legal description on county tax records is Shreve St 452 179; 2849 180 3119 148; church and cemetery; tax-exempt, but land assessed at $821,560 in 2021 https://icare.fairfaxcounty.gov/ffxcare/Datalets/Datalet.aspx?sIndex=1&idx=4
Location
6626 Costner Drive, off east side of Annandale Road, Falls Church, Va. 22042
the steet was named for the Rev. Wallace E. Costner, a minister of the church in the 20th century. Property map number 0502 01 0054 (parcel number 050-2 ((1)) 54); 2.5809 acres
District
Providence
Additional Notes
Church is listed on Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites
Photo Credit
Courtesy of www.sbcfallschurch.org
Files
Collection
Citation
Hiram Reed, “Second Baptist Church of Falls Church and Cemetery,” Fairfax County African American History Inventory, accessed October 24, 2026, https://fairfaxaahi.centerformasonslegacies.com/items/show/135.