Calvary Baptist Church and the Lorraine Apartments

In 1897, forty-seven members of First Baptist Church withdrew and organized a new congregation that they named Calvary. They met in a building on Cherry Street just around the corner until they raised the funds necessary to build this church, completing it in March 1901. The main worship hall faced Adams Street and was 30′ x 40′, and to the west was a lecture room and office for the pastor. The main entrance was on the corner, with a smaller entrance on Clay Street that provided access to the lecture hall. The Vicksburg Herald reported that the sanctuary could hold 400-500 people and that the ceiling was constructed of polished yellow pine beaded board. A “multi-branch chandelier with electric lights” hung in the sanctuary and “stained glass windows with fleur-de-lis onyx panels” adorned the building. The building appears to have been designed by Enoch-Havis Lumber Company, who also constructed the building. The building cost $6,000, with the lot having cost more than half that at $3,250.

In 1912, the city graded Clay and Adams Streets which, according to the church, damaged the building to the point where it needed repairs for the congregation to remain. The church sought damages of $3,500 from the city, but received only $1,850. The congregation then moved to the old Speed’s Addition City Hall on Bowmar Avenue and made plans for a new building on Bowmar, the congregation then taking the name “Bowmar Avenue Baptist Church.”

Calvary Baptist Church (courtesy of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.)

The Clay Street building was demolished on May 14, 1914, and the lot remained empty until October 1921 when the Vicksburg Evening Post made an announcement “of much interest to the home seekers in the city to the effect that a fine new apartment house is soon to be erected in this city.” They reported that the building was to be erected by the estate of the late George P. Reeve and would be “thoroughly modern in every respect.” On November 21, the Post reported that Henry Reeve, manager of the new Lorraine apartments, “has just returned from New Orleans, where he made extensive purchases of the complete fittings for the beautiful new building and the work of erection began today.” An architect was never listed, but the contractor was A. E. Dean, and he may have designed the building. Just after the announcement of construction, the four apartments were already rented, proving what the paper said was an “acute housing problem.” The Lorraine Apartment building was completed in 1922 and remains today.

Lorraine apartments (courtesy of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.)

Nancy Bell, Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation.