New-York tribune., 1910-10-02
BOROUGH GOSSIP
Two Baptist Churches in Will
iamsburu Consolidate.

Tho members Of the First Baptist
Church. Lee avenue and keap street, and
Of the Central Baptist Church, Marcy
avenue and South 5th street, voted 10 con-
solidate the other evening. The arrange
rnents necessary 10 carry out the plan VIII
he completed as rapidly as possible, and IL
is expected that the congregations VIII ne
able TO meet together by the first OF the
wear. The name OF the new organization
viii be the First Baptist Church in MIL
ismsburg the name which the FIRST
Church originally had. The new organiza-
ton will meet at the First Church AFTER
the arrangements are completed The con-
solidatfcn of the two is q step backward
and results from the influx of Jews from
the East Side. Manhattan. The coming of
the Jews has resulted in the reducuon Oh
the Christian population Of the section.
The Christion churches are giving up one
Nv one or moving elsewhere. At the same
time. the Jewish synsgogues and insutu-
tions are growing rapidly. The union OF
the First and Central Baptist churches
shows that the Baptist population is get
ting down TO pretty nearly the condition
tba- il was in forty-five years ago when
-Ae Central Church was established by
number Of members who left the First
Church.
The members of the Marcy Avenue Bsp-
list Church. Marcy and Putnam ave
nues are already preparing for the. cele-
bration of the twenty-fifth anniversary OF
the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. ". & T.
Rhoades. which Will occur on December ].
The chief part OF the celebration VIII
fall on December 4, which comes on sun
day. When DIR. Rhoades took charge the
organization used a frame building al
Marcy avenue and Monroe street. The
contracts for the present church bulldlnS
were let in 1851 In October, 1855. the new
structure was opened. II had cost No4,sl
ard there was mortgage of $4,000 Before
the beginning Of the century the entire
mortgage was cleared up. The church has
Two thousand members and a Sunday
school OF 400 pupils. The church has
reading ROOM library and kindergarten, be-
sides other special attractions which have
made il popular and brought new members.
II is now thirty-seVen years old. and one
OF the most enterprlsiEg of the Baptist
churches OF the bOroL sh.
According to announcement made at the
last meeting Of the Brooklyn Presbytery,
the Sunday school pupils of the denomina-
Iion in this borough are decreasing instead
OF increasing, as nau DS6n supposed. Inc
announcement was made after an tnvesti-
cation by the Rev. ". B. Gates, chairman
of the committee on Sunday school work
Mr. Gates said that the schools had lost
. ssa members since 1906, in spite OF the
great growth Of the population OF the bor-
ough one peculiar fact is that the church
membership has been growing all the while.
faster than the population has grown. Why
II is that the denomination is losing its
young people cannot be explained. No
Presbyterian Sunday school has been es-
tablished in a year, and the last one that
was established was turned over to the
Dutch Reformed church, a near relation in
the church world. Brooklyn has 10000
children in her Sunday schools.
The official opening of the new building
which is TO be occupied as Postofficc Sta
tion u. Nos 1915 and 1917 Fulton street. oc-
Cured the other evening, when the clerks
and other employees celebrated and the peo-
ple Of the neighborhoOd looked on APPROX
inclv. The building was thrown open for
public inspection and, afterward, the en-
uloves held dinner at which Superinten-
dent W +. Morris acted toastma aster
and Postmaster i. ". Voorhies and Assist
ant Postmaster T. II. Newcomb were the
sruoS-S n