History of the First Baptist Church Building
Originally called First Colored Missionary Baptist Church
Historical records indicate that the building was started in 1873 and completed in 1875 with a cost of between $640.00 to $653.00. The church was located at 5th and Cherry Streets. The streets were then called Amo and Brock Streets. Located at the eastern edge of Riverside Cemetery that runs along White River, the church served many of the neighboring houses. Many of these houses in recent years have had to be purchased by the City of Noblesville due to flooding problems, therefore being able to preserve the local church would be a historical gift to the neighborhood.
The church itself had several pastors through the years, but one in particular, Barney Stone became one of Noblesville's outstanding citizens. He was born a slave in 1847 in Spencer County, Kentucky. His father and mother could never live together since he was a slave from a neighboring farm. Barney's parents had ten children together, all of them slaves. He watched his sister be sold to another plantation owner. Then he watched his mother and little brother be sold after being beaten by his master. He ran away at age sixteen and joined the Union Army. The soldiers taught him to read and write. After the war, he returned to Kentucky to search for his lost family. (He was not able to find his mother until twenty-seven years after they were separated). As a young man, Barney continued his studies, and by age twenty-one he was preaching sermons. He married at age twenty-four and had five children. When he was about forty-five years old, his daughter, Beulah, graduated from Noblesville High School and later attended college in Kentucky.
Barney was very involved with life in Noblesville. He was a circuit court bailiff, a member of the Knights of Pythias and Masonic Lodge. He was extremely proud of his military service and led many Memorial Day services at two of our local cemeteries. He was a staunch Republican and held the right to vote as a very dear privilege. At eighty-five years of age, he campaigned around the state for Herbert Hoover. At age ninety-one, he made the trip to Gettysburg to hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt speak. Barney was the only Civil War Veteran from Hamilton County able to make the journey, saying "When I stood on the same ground where Lincoln stood, when he delivered his great speech. I think it was the happiest moment of my life". He also expressed how grateful he was to be freed from the shackles of slavery by a Great Nation.
After sixty-nine years of marriage, Barney lost his beloved wife. A year later, at age ninety-four, he gave a speech at the courthouse about how much he loved and respected the American Soldier.
Barney died at ninety-five years of age, being the last Civil War Veteran and possibly the last African-American veteran in the country. His funeral service lasted three hours in the Church so everyone could speak about his extraordinary life.