Early History of FBC Trussville

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The Steeple Still Beckons

Shortly before Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819, an influx of settlers began to flow into the area that later became Jefferson County. Struck by “Alabama Fever,” a frenzied rush to claim a share of the territory’s cheap and plentiful land, many of the newcomers came from Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas to seek economic opportunity in the fertile north-central region of the soon-to-be state. Among those settlers was North Carolinian Warren Truss, who came to the area around 1817 and staked a claim near Springville. In 1821, he purchased land along the Cahaba River near where one of his brothers had already settled, established a grist mill, and began to develop a community around it originally known as Truss.

A Church Is Born

As the settlers became landowners, built homes, and otherwise lived their new lives in Alabama, their thoughts turned to matters of a more spiritual nature. They realized, as Katherine Hale Hanlin wrote in The Steeple Beckons: A Narrative History of The First Baptist Church, Trussville, Alabama, 1821-1971, that an important part of the lives they had left behind was missing.

“After settling in the new lands, those who had been cognizant of their religious obligations in their former homes felt the need for establishing a church in order to perpetuate their beliefs and doctrines. Baptist preachers were scarce. Baptist itinerant workers were even more scare.

“Some of the settlers had not been able to secure a good education. They were aware, nevertheless, of their need for a physical place of worship and for a spiritual church to feed their hungry souls.”

Into this picture stepped another North Carolinian, Elder Sion Blythe. An Alabama Baptist pioneer minister, Blythe had previously helped constitute churches in his home state and locally, one being First Baptist Church of Springville (originally, Mt. Zion Baptist) in 1817.

Considering his experience planting new churches and his reputation as a great man of God, Elder Blythe was a natural choice for leading the effort to establish a Baptist church in the area. So, on July 14, 1821, he gathered with eight other men of faith in the Truss community to form Cahawba Baptist Church, where he served as pastor until 1833.

In 1866, the church was recorded as Cahaba Baptist Church. On April 1, 1888, the name was changed to Trussville Baptist Church. In March 1954, then-pastor Grover C. Walker requested that the name be changed to The First Baptist Church of Trussville. The congregation approved the request, and the new name was adopted.

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