The Second Baptist Church of Idaho Falls & Reverend Granville S Stacker

 

The first organized church in Idaho Falls was Baptist and met for 125 years, from 1884 to 2009.  This First Baptist Church was instrumental in starting a second church, Zion Baptist Church, the first church planted in Idaho Falls by a church in Idaho Falls.  While Zion Baptist Church had a very short life, it led to another church, called the Second Baptist Church, which lasted much longer and had a direct influence on starting another church in Idaho Falls which is still meeting.  Here’s the story:

Zion Baptist Church

The front page headline of the Idaho Falls Morning Times-Register of April 8, 1921 announced:

Colored Baptist Church Organized

Meetings Will Be Held in Basement of (Baptist) Church Every Sunday Afternoon

A meeting was held last evening in the basement of the Baptist church for the purpose of establishing a church for the colored people of the city. J. Polk Taylor, colored Baptist minister of Pocatello, was present and was assisted in perfecting an organization by Rev. by Rev. Arthur Willey, pastor of the local Baptist church, and J. W. Croft, district missionary from Blackfoot.

A representative body of the colored people attended and a church organization was perfected. Meetings will be held in the basement of the Baptist church until sufficient strength can be gained to erect a building suitable for church purposes.  Sunday school will be held at 2:30 and services at 3:30 every Sunday afternoon.

A temporary clerk and treasurer were appointed and Rev. J. Polk Taylor was requested to remain and act as pastor and assist in perfecting the organization.  Colored Baptist members were selected as an executive board and in response to an invitation to affiliate with the present membership with the future intention of becoming members of the new Baptist organization, four came forward and were registered as members awaiting baptism.[1]

The following month efforts began to raise funds for construction of a church building:

Colored Baptists Plan to Erect Church Building

The members of the Zion Baptist church, (colored) held a rally in the basement of the Baptist church Monday evening, and launched plans for raising funds to purchase a lot on which to erect a church building.  A total of $250 has been subscribed of which $116.75 has been paid in cash. Wilbur Holmes is acting as treasurer for the organization and Rev. Jas. Polk Taylor is the pastor of the Zion Baptist church.[2]

Note the name, Wilbur Holmes, in the above announcement as his wife is prominent in the successor church.

The church appeared to be off to a good start.  A church announcement in June, 1921 reported, “The past week has been a success, quite a number having confessed Christ as their Savior. They will be baptized Sunday at 4 pm, the baptizing sermon will be preached by the pastor, Rev. Polk Taylor.”[3]

Zion Baptist Church met through the summer of 1921 and into the fall. In early October they held a meeting to elect trustees.[4]

On October 23, 1921, James Polk Taylor preached a sermon to the members of Zion Baptist Church entitled “The Destruction of the Wicked.”  I'm sure there was no connection, but two days later a Public Notice was published in the local newspaper:

We the colored citizens of Idaho Falls, Idaho have come to the conclusion to refund all money that was given to us for the purpose of building a colored church, on the account of the strained times.  Furthermore we do not feel that we have the man we desire for pastor. We may take this up later on and we thank the people for their kindness. [5]

Names of 13 people were shown in the above notice. A few days later a meeting called by Rev. Arthur V Willey, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Rev. James Polk Taylor, pastor of Zion Baptist church, and Wilbur Holmes, treasurer for the new church, to refund money to all who had contributed, noting that “it seems advisable to abandon the proposition.”

The Beginning of Second Baptist Church

Less than three weeks later, the effort was revived:

There will be a dinner at the First Baptist church on Eastern Avenue for the benefit of the colored church, given by the members of the church.  It will be served from 11:30 am until 2:30 pm and from 5:30 to 8:30 pm of Nov 9th. Chicken, duck and barbecue meats will be served at 50 cents a plate.  Remarks will be given by Elder Polk Taylor.[6]

This revived church was called “Second Baptist Church.”  They met Sunday afternoons, but rather than meeting in the Baptist Church, the met in the “Old Catholic Church”[7] in Idaho Falls, and were led by Pastor W. J. Brannon, with Mrs. Wilbur Holmes being the Sunday school superintendent.[8]  Rev. W. J. Brannon was more of a church planter than typical pastor.  In 1919 he served in Ogden, Utah, in 1920 in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in 1921 Garden City, Kansas. Then in 1922 he led the effort to establish Second Baptist Church in Idaho Falls, but stayed only a year.  By November of that year, the church had purchased a lot on Lomax and Higbee with a finished basement, held services there, and were raising funds by subscription for completing the church building.[9]

It seems very likely that Rev. W. J. Brannon met Granville S. Stacker at the first annual meeting of the Wyoming, Utah and Idaho Missionary Baptist Association held in Cheyenne, Wyoming in October, 1919 and then invited Granville to come to Idaho Falls in late 1922 to preach at the Second Baptist Church.[10]

Granville S. Stacker – Farm Laborer, Groceryman and Pastor

Granville S. Stacker was born about 1860[11] in Dover, Tennessee, a town about 70 miles northwest of Nashville which at the time had a population of less than 300. By 1880 he was married, had 3 sons, and was working as a farm laborer in Stewart County, Tennessee.[12] Sometime before 1910 he moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming.[13] The Statesman of Denver, Colorado, January 28, 1911, under “Cheyenne News” notes that “The residence of Mr. G. S Stacker was destroyed by fire; most of his valuable possessions were lost.”[14] 

In Cheyenne, Granville owned and operated a grocery store, from 1913 (or before) until he moved to Idaho Falls in December of 1922.[15]  The Colorado Statesman of March 23, 1918, under “Cheyenne News” notes that “Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Stacker, 917 W. 19th Street, have one of the neatest little grocery and market stores in the city. They handle most anything you want in the grocery and meat line.  If they haven’t got in stock just what you want they will get it for you.”[16]  In the 1922 Cheyenne City Directory, the description of their products is expanded:

Stacker, Granville S, Dealer in Staple and Fancy Groceries, Smoked and Cured Meats, Fruits, Nuts, Candies, Cigars and Tobaccos, Feed, Etc.

The Colorado Statesman of January 26, 1918, under “Notes from Cheyenne” reported that Rev. G. S.   Stacker had purchased a horse and wagon and is doing a thriving grocery and coal business.[17]

As seen in the above note, newspaper items starting in January 1918 refer to Granville as Reverend G. S. Stacker, whereas earlier news items show his name as Mr. G. S. Stacker.  While continuing to operate his grocery business, he filled the pulpit at times at the Second Baptist Church in Cheyenne and also was occasionally a dinner guest of the pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  He served as chaplain of an auxiliary group of the Second Baptist Church, the Excelsior Social Club, and was elected as president of the Cheyenne Civic League of Colored People.[18]

Besides the fire that destroyed his residence 1911, another fire in Cheyenne in 1919 destroyed a two-room dwelling in the rear his house, rooms he opened to a woman and her four young children who had lost their father from the Spanish flu.[19]

In December, 1922, Rev. Stacker made a trip to Idaho Falls to speak in “religious meetings.”[20]   This was reported in the Idaho Falls Daily Post of December 2 with the note, “He is a great preacher, come and hear him.”[21] The notice of this trip in the Colorado Statesman said that he was expected to return to Cheyenne about February 1, hence apparently he planned to be in Idaho Falls for two months. However by January, 1923, Idaho Falls newspapers show him as the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Idaho Falls.[22] In August of that year, Rev. Stacker was elected treasurer of the Tri-State (WY, UT & ID) Baptist Association meeting in Ogden.[23]

Frequent notices of the activities of the Second Baptist Church were put in Idaho Falls newspapers over the next few years.  They continued to meet in their building on Lomax between Emerson and Higby Streets[24] for Sunday services, held Sunday school classes and Wednesday evening prayer meetings. They frequently offered chicken dinners at various locations, at 50 cents a plate, served from noon to 8 pm, seeking to pay off their debt, as well as had pledge drives and tag days.[25] Periodically they held revival meetings, had guest pastors and visiting missionary speakers. 

On February 6, 1926, Rev. Stacker married Leah Norman at the First Baptist Church in Idaho Falls by the pastor of the church, Adrian Berry.[26]

In June 1928 the church purchased another lot and started raising funds toward construction of a church building, meeting temporarily at the Salvation Army tabernacle at the corner of Capital Ave and B Street.[27]

In March 1930 the church held revival meetings, and the article mentions that erection of their church building was recently completed: [28]

A series of revival meetings for colored folk in the vicinity of Idaho Falls are being planned by the Rev. A. A. Banks, colored, of Pocatello, it was announced here today.  The Reverend Banks will confer with the Rev. G. S. Stacker of the Second Baptist church, colored, of Idaho Falls upon his return to the city, he said.

The Reverend Banks is carrying on a drive to save a million souls in five years, he said. He is executive secretary and treasurer of the National Evangelical Board of America, promoter and director of the “five year one million souls for Christ” campaign and supervisor of the small missions of the intermountain district. The organization has assisted in the erection of the Negro church here, the building recently being completed.

Weekly announcement of services in Idaho Falls newspapers indicate the church continued to have preaching services at 11 am and 8 pm each Sunday, Sunday school at 3 pm, prayer services on Wednesday evenings and for some periods services Thursday evening as well.  For three months from late October 1930 through the end of the year the church held daily healing services from Monday through Saturday from 10:30 to noon.  An evangelist, Mrs. M. Bates, was in charge of these services.  Some of the announcements of the healing services included an invitation to mail requests for healing to Rev. Stacker and evidently they would be prayed over in the services.  Announcements in January and February, 1931, designated Friday as a day of prayer and fasting.  While Rev. G. S. Stacker is always mentioned as the pastor of the church, occasionally there were guest preachers, such as Rev. H. R. Zelmer of the Full Gospel Mission on February 15, 1931.[29]  Starting in August 1931, the B.Y. P. U. [Baptist Youth Peoples Union] met at the church at 6 pm on Sundays.

Rev. Granville Stacker died in Idaho Falls on June 21, 1933 and his body is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery.[30]

Remaining Years of the Second Baptist Church of Idaho Falls

Following Rev. Stackers death, various people filled the pulpit of the church, including Sister M. Jackson of St. Anthony, Rev. A. A. Banks, the executive secretary of the National Evangelical Board, and Rev. D. W. Burt of Pocatello. For most of 1937, church announcements show only times for Sunday school class, with no other services.

In 1939, Negro Baptist from Idaho, Washington and Oregon held their annual western convention and soul-saving assembly at the Second Baptist Church in Idaho Falls.[31]  The delegates were told that "every saved soul is responsible for saving at least one other soul each year."[31]

The July 8, 1940 Post Register announced, “A big revival broke out on the corner of Shelley and Canyon at the Second Baptist Church.”[32]

However, there are very few mentions of Second Baptist Church in post-1940 Idaho Falls newspapers.  Most are legal notices during the months of April and May, 1947 in which the Second Baptist Church is one of more than a dozen defendants summoned to appear in court regarding a land dispute.  Since other defendants in the list include one deceased individual and one defunct corporation, these notices may not be evidence that the church was still in existence at that time.[33]  However, also in 1947, on August 13, there was a notice in the Post-Register of a building permit granted to construct the Second Baptist Church on Elmore Avenue between Iona and Shelley Streets for $2,500.[34] This is only a block or two away from where the church met in 1940.

The most recent source I could find that mentioned the Second Baptist Church in Idaho Falls is an article in the Post-Register of June 4, 1954 about distribution of clothes and shoes to needy families by the Salvation Army.  The article reported that their distribution included “65 boxes of clothing and shoes numbering over 2,200 pieces delivered to the Second Baptist Church and the Church of God In Christ to be distributed by them to needy Negro Families of the city.”[35]

While the activities of the Second Baptist Church may have faded in the 1940’s, several members of the church played key roles in the formation of, or perhaps better, the transition to, another church in Idaho Falls, one that is still meeting.     

The George F. Lewis family moved to Idaho Falls from Nebraska in 1936 and attended the Second Baptist Church.  One of the sons, Paul Lewis, died at age 28 on May 7, 1938.  The notice of his death includes the statement, “He was converted (to Christ at) the Second Baptist Church in 1936.”[36] 

In 1944 George F. Lewis, Mrs. Willie Holt and Mrs. Leah Stacker, the widow of Rev. Granville Stacker, registered an organization with the name “Church of God in Christ,” located on the corner of Shelley and Canyon Streets, with the Bonneville County Clerk.[37]  Mrs. Willie Holt, in some announcements identified as "a missionary from California," led services at the Second Baptist Church as early as May, 1941, at the location that became the meeting place of the Church of God in Christ.[38]  At least twice between 1942 and 1944 she also led 12-hour fasting, prayer and worship services, from noon to midnight, at the same location.[39]  

The present Community Church of God in Christ in Idaho Falls traces their history back to 1949 and 1950. An article reporting on their 30th anniversary mentions that their first worship service was held in the George F. Lewis home at 1250 Bingham Avenue in 1949.[40]  Another of their sons, Aaron Valentine Lewis Sr., was pastor of Community Church Of God In Christ from 1954 to 1967.[41]  

Baptist Churches in Idaho Falls

Counting the three mentioned or discussed above, there have been 16 Baptist churches in Idaho Falls, of which 6 are currently meeting.  Two of these six were started in the 1950’s, two in the 1980’s and two in the 1990’s.  Three of the 16 were Spanish-speaking churches started by three different existing Idaho Falls churches, of which one, Iglesia Bautista El Calvario,[42] initially a mission sponsored by Calvary Baptist Church, is still meeting.

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[1] Morning Times-Register (Idaho Falls), April 8, 1921, p. 1.

[2] Idaho Falls Daily Post, May 18, 1921,  p. 2 

[3] Idaho Falls Daily Post, June 18, 1921, p. 2. 

[4] Idaho Falls Daily Post, October 22, 1921, p 8.

[5] Idaho Falls Daily Post, October 25, 1921, p 5.

[6] Idaho Falls Daily Post, November 15, 1921, p 6. 

[7] The Old Catholic Church was located on the corner of Eastern and Maple Avenues. Their second building, on 9^th and Lee, was dedicated in early 1920.

[8] Idaho Falls Daily Post, October 20, 1922, p 3.

[9] The Times Register (of Idaho Falls), November 28, 1922. p. 4.

[10] The Colorado Statesman, October 18, 1919. p. 1 contains resolutions signed by Rev. W. J. Brannon and others that were adopted at that meeting, thus confirming that he was in attendance.  As it was held in the Second Baptist Church in Cheyenne, the church where Rev. G. S. Stacker was active, they no doubt met.

[11] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74709602/granville-s-stacker shows his date of birth as Jan. 10, 1860, with the year consistent with his age shown in the 1920 census. His Bonneville County marriage record has the year of his birth as “about 1863” and his death certificate and Rose Hill Cemetery records show his date of birth as Jan. 10, 1867; the 1870 census gives his age as 11, implying a year of birth of 1859, and the 1880 census shows an age of 26, implying a year of birth of 1854. The 1930 census shows his age as 62, implying the year of his birth was 1868; however the same census shows his age at his first marriage was 17, implying a much earlier year of birth

[12] 1880 Census for Rough and Ready, Stewart, TN.  This census record shows his age as 26, his wife Carrie 23, son Willie, 9 Loue, 6 and George 4.

[13] 1910 census of Cheyenne Ward 1, Wyoming shows “John S Stacker” which in the Heritage Quest transcription is corrected to Granville S Stacker, (although his race is incorrectly shown as white), age 52, 915 Capital Ave, married, 6 years in present marriage, born in TN also with father and mother born in TN, working as a laborer; as head of family and living with him are John W Stacker, age 22 and his wife Ida, 24 and their son Gendoa age 2, born in Wyoming.

[14] The Statesman (Denver CO), Jan. 28, 1911, p 17.

[15] Or possibly January of 1923.

[16] The Colorado Statesman, March 23, 1918, p. 5.

[17] The Colorado Statesman, Jan 26, 1918, p. 5

[18] The Colorado Statesman, Nov. 27, 1920, p. 2 & The Colorado Statesman, Nov. 11, 1922, p. 2.

[19] The Colorado Statesman, Dec. 13, 1919, p. 2. 

[20] The Colorado Statesman, Dec. 30, 1922, p. 2.

[21] Idaho Falls Daily Post, December 2, 1922, p. 4.

[22] Idaho Falls Daily Post, Jan. 12, 1923, p. 4. 

[23] The Colorado Statesman, Sept. 8, 1923, p. 2.

[24] The specific address of the church is not given in any of the announcements. A 1928 City Directory for Idaho Falls shows that Rev. and Mrs.  G. S. Stacker lived at 435 Lomax St., while the 1930 census of Idaho Falls shows their address as 495 Lomax (possibly these were the same address, one being a transcription error).  Perhaps one of these was also the address of the church.

[25] On a tag days, money is collected for a charity on the streets of a city and donors are given tags to show that they contributed.

[26] Idaho County Marriages, 1864-1950, p. 116 of 775, Certificate #73337, accessed via Heritage Quest

[27] Times Register, June 21, 1929, p.8.

[28] Idaho Falls Daily Post March 30, 1930 p. 7; “Plan Holding of Colored Revivals.”

[29] The Idaho Falls Post, Feb. 13, 1931, p. 7.

[30] "Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho Falls, Rose Hill Cemetery Records, 1800-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HVPV-ZHZM), Rev. Granville Stacker.

[31] The Post-Register, Nov. 26, 1939, p. 10.

[32] The Post-Register, July 8, 1940, p. 11; under Announcements in Classified Ads

[33] The Post-Register, April 18 & 25 & May 2 & 9, 1947.

[34] The Post-Register, August 13, 1947. p. 8.

[35] The Post-Register, June 4, 1954, p, 11, “Salvation Army Aids 500 Here.”

[36] The Post-Register, May 10, 1938, p. 5.

[37] The Post-Register, June 22, 1944, p. 11.

[38] The Post-Register, May 9, 1941, p. 2.

[39] The Post-Register, Sept. 11, 1942, p. 12 and July 14, 1944, p. 11.

[40] The Post-Register, September 27, 1980, p. A-12, “Church of God in Christ to Note 30^th Anniversary.”

[41] The Post-Register, September 25, 1981, p. B-6, “31^st Church Anniversary” in Church Briefs Column; also note from Todd Wood documenting conversation with Anthony Manzanaras, Nov. 19, 2021; numerous Church of God in Christ announcements is the Post Register, 1952 to 1968; and The Post-Register, June 7, 1967, p. 7, "Lewis Terminates Church Pastorate."

[42] Started as Mission Baptista Del Sur, then Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana.