ENFIELD – The oldest Baptist church north of Bangor observed its 175th anniversary with a gospel jubilee and daylong celebration July 14 and 15.

The Enfield Baptist Church was chartered July 11, 1826, at Cold Stream, which is now Enfield, with 18 members of the Darling, Perkins, Messer, Buck, Lovett and Gilman families.

But it was not until January 1952 that the church became known as the Enfield Baptist Church.

A Baptist conference meeting was held at the home of Jonathan and Miriam (Gray) Darling the day the church was founded at which Elders John Roundy and Nathaniel Robinson, representing the Eastern Maine Association of Baptist Churches, held a baptism and bestowed the Articles of Faith and church covenant on the new church members.

Old postcards from the early 1900s show various church buildings. A group of people posed for a picture in front of Camp Darling, the former home of Jonathan Darling, first deacon of the church. The camp was used for worship during the early days of the church.

On the back of one postcard is the name, “Wm. O. Chesley, H.C. 65 Box 5785, Lincoln, Me 04457” and the message:

“Where it all started in 1826, Camp Darling at Cold Stream – former home of 1st Deacon – Jonathan Darling. First meetings of Enfield Baptist Church held here. Photo dates from about 1910 when it was used as a summer hotel.”

It was in 1935 that Cold Stream became the townships of Enfield and Lowell. During the first nine years, ministers were sent to the small community church by the Baptist Conference and Deacon Amos P. Messer was granted a license to preach in 1831. In 1835 he was ordained and became the first regular pastor of the church until his death in 1876.

After Messer died, his brother Alvin continued as minister until 1889.

Amos Messer was not content to preach at the church – he also made trips to the logging camps to preach. A measure of the Messer brothers’ dedication to the church was that they received no wages for church services. They had other means of income and considered their church work to be a service to God.

The Enfield Baptist Church building was not always at its present location. The present church was built in 1860 on a lot adjacent to the village cemetery, donated by the Treat family who were leading citizens and mill owners.

As the years rolled by, improvements were made to the church, including a wood furnace, organ, carpeting, pressed tin walls and ceiling, most paid for by gifts of Elizabeth Treat. About 1930, Mrs. Silas Hodgskins and her Sunday school class presented the church with a stained-glass memorial window and in 1932 another four stained-glass windows also were installed.

In 1947, a piano was bought and in 1950, a combination wood-oil furnace was in service.

In 1977, the Enfield Christian School opened with 26 students in kindergarten through grade 12. A large increase in enrollment the next year prompted the church to build a new school on land donated by Lila and Clyde Speed. The school was dedicated, debt-free, in 1978, and continued classes with 73 students. It continued until 1997, when the building became the Enfield Youth Center.