Beverly Watkins always knew she would come back to Virginia Street Baptist Church. Even during a period of nearly 20 years when her husband’s military service took them overseas and then to North Carolina, Watkins kept her letter of membership with her home church in Hopkinsville.
Her story with Virginia Street Baptist is not unusual.
Many congregants who came Sunday to celebrate the church’s 175th anniversary have a long history with Virginia Street Baptist. Some have attended the church for more than 50 years — as did their parents and grandparents.
“This is home,” said Watkins, who chaired the committee that planned Sunday’s celebration. Roughly 225 people attended.
Born in 1950, Watkins was baptized at Virginia Street when she was 9 years old. Her parents, James and Mary Virginia Johnson, and other family members served the church in a number of ways. Her father was treasurer. Her mother worked in the kitchen. One uncle was a deacon. Another uncle was a trustee.
Watkins was a member of the first class of Black students who graduated from Christian County High School in 1968 following desegregation and the closure of Attucks High School. She moved away in 1970 with her husband, Ben Arthur Watkins, who had joined the Air Force.
Returning to Hopkinsville in 1989, Beverly Watkins felt the same connection to Virginia Street Baptist that she’d experienced years earlier. One of her Sunday school teachers, Nannie Croney, was present for the 175th anniversary service. Croney, 91, is the oldest member still attending on a regular basis.
“We always kept in touch,” she said, describing the ties among the church members. “I don’t care where I’ve gone, I always hear from my church.”
Officially organized in 1851, when some members were still enslaved, Virginia Street Baptist is among the oldest Black churches in Kentucky. Its current building at Third and Virginia streets was completed in 2015 and replaced a church building across the street that stood from 1893 until its demolition about 10 years ago.
The Rev. Dr. M.O. Fort has been Virginia Street Baptist’s pastor since 1994. He followed the Rev. A.R. Lasley, who led the congregation for 50 years.
The guest preacher Sunday was the Rev. Terrence Minor, of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Earlington. Several Mount Zion members attended, and their choir stood in for the host church’s choir.
Several members of Virginia Street gave monetary gifts in honor of family members. Each one stepped to the front of the congregation and read the names of their relatives aloud as they placed an envelope in a collection basket.
During a fellowship meal after the service, Fort announced that the gifts totaled approximately $32,600.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
