Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Building, Religion

Location

2349 E 15th St, Brooklyn, NY 11229, USA

Lat/Long

40.593101790255, -73.955208320104

Grant Recipient

First Baptist Church of Sheepshead Bay

According to the histories kept by the First Baptist Church, Maria J. Fisher, often called Mother Fisher, was born in Virginia in 1847. By 1885 she had made her way to New York, where she settled in the neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Like many of the residents of Sheepshead Bay, Fisher was brought there due to the nearby racetrack, the visitors of which she would sell pies to in order to make a living for herself and her children.

By 1899, it became clear to the Baptist residents of Sheepshead Bay that they needed their own church. While the neighborhood did not lack in churches overall, the nearest Baptist church was near Downtown Brooklyn, and many people struggled to make the journey. In that year, the First Baptist Church of Sheepshead Bay received permission to form their own congregation, which began meeting at the intersection of East 15^th Street and Avenue X.

On January 5, 1900, the congregation assembled and voted to incorporate the church and elect their first set of trustees, of which Fisher was one. The other trustees were George O. Dixon, William Jackson, Mary Woods, Fannie Bown, and James Pickett. However, the congregation still did not have a building to meet in, and Fisher is said to have not only convinced a local landowner to provide the church with a plot of land, but also to have transported the first load of bricks to the site herself using an old wheelbarrow. By October 1901, the church building had been completed and dedicated.

Fisher died in 1930, but her story continued to capture the minds of her community, with the First Baptist Church being the subject of multiple New York City proclamations. In 2009, a sign was erected at the intersection of East 15^th Street and Avenue X officially designating East 15^th Street as “Mother Maria J. Fisher Way” in her honor.