The Main Street Baptist Church was located at the corner of 8th and Main Streets, Springfield, Jacksonville, Florida beginning in the year 1905. This church was often referred to as the "singing church" and "the country church within the city." This Church has long since dissolved but the contributions made to the local and city wide community by its generous, kind and enthousiatic members for so many years should not be forgotton. The Year Book and Directory produced in December 1925 includes a record of the many outstanding members of the Springfield Community at that time; among them of course were my Thomas family, living at 2117 Dancy Terrace.

The 1925 Year Book and Directory is the earliest of the Church directories that were kept or that I have found thus far among my family papers; it was probably kept by my Grandfather, Percy Leon Thomas, Sr. who was active as a leader of the Baptist Training Union, member of many special groups and committees, Superintendent of Sunday Schools and eventually a Deacon. He received a gold watch from the Church on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his membership and was instrumental in the founding of the Baptist Home for Children, the idea for which began within the Main Street Baptist Church in the early 1920s. My Grandfather's funeral was held in Main Street Baptist Church in 1959 and that was the last time I visited the church in its original gray stone building.

I am unable to locate the MSB Church archives if any still exist. All of the mortgages and debts accrued in the construction and furnishing of the "new" church building which was dedicated in the year and remains there today, were paid in full before the church closed. Main Street Baptist Church struggled for years to maintain its congregation while reaching out to help and witness to the badly deteriorating neighborhood around them during the 1970s and 1980s. The church finally closed its doors and the grand newer building was sold to another demonination. I am told that some of the last members of MSBC moved on further north to begin the New Berlin Road Baptist Chuch.