Queen Street Baptist Dates Back to Emancipation of Slavery

Pastor Lloyd Stanford shared that the Queen Street Baptist Church has been a vital part of Belize City’s history. Built in the early 1820s and serving as a church since 1822, it’s the second oldest church in the Americas, after Saint John’s Anglican, also in Belize City. The church was also a significant site in 1839 when slaves gathered there to hear the announcement of their emancipation. Pastor Stanford, who has been preaching at the church since 1971, shared this history with News Five and spoke about the immense loss felt by the Baptist community and all of Belize City.

 

Lloyd Stanford, Pastor, Queen Street Baptist Church

“We started 1822 under the British Baptist Society  and then in 1839 when we had the emancipation. This was where the slaves came here to worship while they are with the announcement. They had news that it was coming, but while they were waiting for the announcement, they were here at midnight. They were singing, they were praising God for their freedom from sin, as well as their freedom from slavery. And so they were here worshiping all night, and the next day they had some more celebrations. 1931 we had the devastated hurricane that killed a lot of people and damaged the building as well. And that was when we had to refurbish the building and bring it up to speed so that we continue to worship in the building. In 1961 there was another hurricane, Hathi Hurricane, that also did some damage to the building, windows and doors and so forth. The structure of the building remained the same.”

 

Marion Ali

“Was it a two-story building all along?”

 

Lloyd Stanford

“It was always a two-story building.”