First schoolhouse and organization of FBCS, 1896 to 1912

1896 - Building of the original schoolhouse in Scottsdale

On a Saturday morning in mid-September, 1896, the men of Scottsdale assembled in the center of the townsite and in true western fashion erected the first schoolhouse that day, one room, sixteen feet by eighteen feet. The women prepared a picnic.

The photo identifies a "Mrs. Blount" as the first teacher. George and Alza Blount purchased 40 acres adjoining the southwest corner of the town site and was the first family, with their three children to move into the neighborhood and begin the settlement of Scottsdale.

The day after the raising of the school was Sunday and 'everyone in Scottsdale' -- about two dozen men, women, and children -- organized a Sunday School, followed by a worship service featuring the singing of good old hymns, accompanied by three mandolins. Note the girl in front of Mrs. Blount is holding one of those mandolins.

Thus, on those two historic days in September, 1896, the rudiments for the foundation of our church were laid out.

First school house after 3 improvements
- circa 1900-1910

1900

About 1900 a small group of Christian people living in the village of Scottsdale organized and conducted a community Sunday school. There were approximately twenty-five of these organizers, including five Methodists and two Presbyterians. The rest were Baptist. During several of these years, V. A. Vanderhoof, then a Methodist, superintended this school.

1909 - Dedication of the Little Red Schoolhouse

On February 26, 1909, Scott's 73rd birthday, a little red schoolhouse springing from a $5000 bond issue which passed by a townsite vote of 14 to zero, was dedicated. While Chaplain Scott presided, the governors of two states, Arizona and Indiana, addressed the crowd, along with the President of Tempe Normal School, Professor Arthur J. Mathews. Having the governor of Indiana attend and speak was another notch in Scott's reputation as a promoter of the area, since Scott's home state was Michigan.

The Little Red Schoolhouse was built 1909-1910. This photo, taken in 1912, shows a number of students who later became members of First Baptist Church:

Alvin Brown, baptized by Pastor Fred Mathis in 1934, James Vanderhoof, George Thomas, Ellsworth "Brownie" Brown, Stanley Ellis Thomas, May Vanderhoof, who later married Pastor Fred Mathis in the 1920's, Grace Thomas, Ruth Brown