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The Hemlock Baptist Church is located on South Main St. in Hemlock NY on State Route 15A.

4738 South Main Street - Hemlock, NY 14466

Read below about how the church was established in 1844 and its 100th anniversary.

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Click to see a map to the Hemlock Baptist Church.

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The First Baptist Church of Hemlock NY was dedicated in August of 1844 and had cost $1500 to construct.

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The Livonia Gazette

20 April 1934

Hemlock Baptist Church Hold Special Service On Anniversary

Rededication of Building Takes Place, with Dr. John F. Vichert Preaching the Sermon

First Meetings Held 100 Years Ago

One hundred years have elapsed since the first Baptist Church service was held in Hemlock, and this fact was recognized publicly last Sunday evening when a service of rededication was held in the Hemlock Baptist Church building. The interior of the church has been recently redecorated and this service fulfilled a two-fold purpose, that of celebrating the centennial anniversary and also the refinishing of the church.

From facts furnished by Burnell Briggs it is learned that in 1834 Elder Caleb Briggs of the Baptist faith came from Richmond and Canadice and held meetings with a small group of people in the home of Elias Archer, near the foot of Hemlock Lake. Services were held in the homes of the vicinity for four years, until in 1838 the people organized themselves into a society called the Baptist Church of Hemlock Lake. Services were held in the local schoolhouse until 1844, when the site of the present Baptist Church was purchased. The building was finished at a cost of $1,500 and dedicated in August of 1844. Sometime later the Baptist society, which used to meet in the building near what is now known as the Curtiss Schoolhouse about two miles east of Hemlock, disbanded and many of the members joined with the church at Hemlock. This brought the membership up to a sizable number.

The Hemlock church was one of the first members of the Livingston County Baptist association, which organization, after functioning for nearly 100 years, disbanded in 1931. The churches of the western part of the country joined the Genesee County Baptist association, while the Hemlock church joined the Ontario County association and maintains denominational relationship there at the present time.

Greeting were extended Sunday evening by the Rev. Kenneth L. Cober, vice-moderator of the Ontario county association and a former paster at Hemlock, and the Rev. George Haynes of Lakeville. The address was given by Dr. John F. Vichert of the Rocester - Colgate School of Divinity, whose son, the Rev. Clarence Vichert, now a missionary in China, was a former pastor of the Hemlock church. Dr. Vichert chose as his text, “Every Effect Must Have An Adequate Cause”, bringing out that the New Testament came into existence because of a great cause and advancing the belief that the world’s troubles today are due to a moral breakdown of the character of the people; thus they should turn toward Jesus and the church for the better things of life. During the service Miss Isabelle Hawn of Hemlock sang “As the Heart Panteth After the Water Brooks,” and Mrs. Carl Drain and Mrs. M. R. Williams of Livonia rendered a duet entitled, “O Jesus, Tour Art Standing.”