From Start to Finish
The Greater Marshall Memorial Baptist Church was organized in this community as the Progressive Baptist Church by the late Rev. W. H. Marshall on February 17, 1952. There were six members in the church’s organization.
One of the first worship places was a garage across the street on Northeast 16thStreet. Later the congregation moved to some lots on Northeast 17th Street where Rev. Marshall erected a one-room structure, which was used during the winter months.
Rev. Marshall began construction on the first church building in 1953, on the same lots in which the building stands today, and made improvements on the building from time to time until we had a modest and comfortable place to worship. During that time, Rev. Marshall was also the pastor of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church located at 612 N. Massachusetts, a church that he organized and built in 1937.
As a builder of buildings and of souls, Rev. Marshall worked untiringly, but he was limited in time and finance. When the Lord called him home on January 10, 1964, he had not been able to fulfill his dream of the type of edifice he thought the Lord’s house should be. His funeral was the first to be held in the church that he had organized, built, and pastored.
Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from the “History of the Greater Marshall Memorial Baptist Church”
In Spirit and In Truth The Word 