Parkway Baptist Church began as a mission Sunday School of the First Baptist Church of Lexington in 1888. The city of Lexington was in its infancy then, and Dr. W. H. Felix, the pastor, believed, as did many of the city officials, that there was a possibility that the city might someday grow out as far as Loudon Avenue (now considered inner city) and that there would be a need for ministry to the people in that area. As a result, a small, single-room, white frame structure was erected on Fifth Street and, staffed by Sunday School teachers from First Baptist, weekly classes began.

        Four years later, a small brick structure with a couple of Sunday School rooms had also been erected on the site and, led by pastor Otis Hughson with a grand total of six charter members, the new congregation was officially organized as the Fifth Street Baptist Church. The first scheduled meeting of the church was originally planned for the first Sunday in January of 1892, but because the floors in the new building were not yet finished, the organization service was delayed until January the 17^th, 1892. The six original charter members were Thomas Sacra, Henry Thornton, Charles Wright, Robert T. Dale, Louise Long, and Mrs. W. E. Martin. Shortly thereafter, the little white building was given to a group of Methodists as a meeting place, who later organized as the Epworth Methodist Church in the same building and, according to newspaper articles from the time, were aided and encouraged by the pastor and members of the Fifth Street congregation.

        In its early days the young church faced severe financial difficulties, but thanks to the sacrificial giving and devotion of its members, in particular the ladies of the church, it survived. From the outset, it was a very missions-minded church. In fact, Elsie Hughson, the first pastor’s wife was one of the founders of the Elkhorn Baptist Association’s Women’s Missionary Union which was established in 1903.

        Money problems continued to plague the church however until, during Walter Brock’s pastorate in 1915, members of Dr. Felix’s family came to the church’s leadership with a unique request. Dr. Felix, who owned a considerable amount of property in the area, was in failing health, and the family confided to the church that it would mean a great deal to him if the church would consider changing its name from Fifth Street Baptist to Felix Memorial Baptist in his honor. They assured the church leaders that they were confident that the church would be remembered favorably in his will. Based primarily on these assurances, on January 1^st, 1916, the church changed its name officially to the Felix Memorial Baptist Church. Dr. Felix died shortly thereafter, but there was no mention of the church in his will.

        In the early 1920’s both the city and the church experienced remarkable growth. High attendance day in 1923, during the pastorate of G. B. Crawford, brought over 900 people to the church. In 1923 the brick sanctuary was torn down and replaced with a beautiful yellow brick sanctuary trimmed, in keeping with the high style of the times, with red mortar. But then the Depression hit, and money to pay for the building became extremely hard to come by. Once again, the women of the church rose to the occasion. They formed into a number of teams, each with its own captain, who was responsible for overseeing the collection of one quarter a week from each of the families of the church. Their dedication and diligence managed to keep the church’s expenses paid until better days arrived.

        Then, in 1948, a fire seriously damaged the church building. Although the sanctuary and the church offices were not harmed, the back of the building and several Sunday School rooms sustained extensive damage. The church body, however, was committed to making the best of a bad situation, and what began as merely a restoration, soon developed into a full blown renovation for the church (which, interestingly enough, included painting the columns of the church a very elegant shade of pink).

        That same year, with the abrupt departure of pastor W. G. Walker, the Pulpit Committee approached a Texas preacher whose wife and family were natives of Lexington. The young preacher had no interest in accepting the call as he was currently serving a church in Oklahoma and had no interest in moving to Kentucky. In fact, when his wife Mary asked him what he thought about the Committee’s proposal during their drive back home, he stated categorically, “That’s the last church I’ll ever pastor!” As it turned out, his words were more prophetic than he could possibly have imagined. He eventually agreed to preach during a morning and evening worship service at the church, his sermon topics - ‘Hell’ and ‘Tithing,’ but contrary to all expectations, the church embraced his preaching and on May 22^nd, 1949 John Wallace accepted the congregation’s call to serve as their pastor, a position he would hold for the next forty years.

        By the mid 1950’s it became evident that the church was going to have to move from its Fifth Street location. The city, particularly the downtown area, was undergoing radical changes; Epworth Methodist had already relocated; and so began a five-year search for a desirable new location in the North End of Lexington. There were major impediments, however. Horse farms formed something of a barrier wall on that side of town, and developers were less than welcoming of the idea of locating a church in the middle of their building projects. One site after another, including the current Eastland Shopping Center, failed to materialize. Then finally, a church member’s next-door neighbor one day confided to him that he was not sure what to do with a small 9-acre farm that he owned. Omer Nolan had concluded that although it was located on the new Parkway, it was too small to subdivide at a profit, and was debating whether to place it on the open market. The church member replied that he knew someone who might be interested in talking to him about the property, and within two short weeks, the congregation was voting to mortgage the Fifth Street property for the $45,000 necessary to make the purchase. At the time of the purchase the land included a house, a barn, a garage, and several cattle grazing on what is today the church’s front lawn.

        What followed was a two-year period of testing and trial. Some of the members were very hesitant to leave old Felix, particularly since finding a buyer for the church building had proved to be very nearly impossible. Others felt that the new property offered such great promise that it should be utilized immediately. Something of a compromise was reached in 1958 when, on the first Sunday in July, a branch (not a mission) of Felix Memorial opened in the little white frame house and the “Parkway Chapel” services began. Four rooms had been added to the structure and teachers from Felix willingly staffed the Sunday School service. IBM had recently opened a plant in the area and as a result of the distribution of invitations to the developing neighborhoods nearby, over 100 people regularly attended the 9:30 a.m. worship services with pastor Wallace preaching and Mary playing the piano, allowing themselves just enough time to return to Fifth Street for the 11:00 a.m. services there.

        In 1959 the church was able to purchase an additional 4-½ acres directly behind the Parkway property. The total cost was $10,000 and brought the total size of the church property to 13 ½ acres. That same year two large rooms were added to the back of the Chapel to accommodate the increased attendance and during the Summer, even the large horse barn was converted for the congregation’s use during evening worship services.

        Still, the church’s future remained a question mark. Saddled with a mortgage on the old church, unable to find a buyer for it, and not having enough money to begin construction at the new property, the church was in something of a state of limbo.

        But the church continued to pray, and within a remarkably short amount of time, the Lord answered as only He can! In January of 1963 a group of individuals who eventually formed the Shiloh Baptist Church agreed to purchase the Felix Memorial property for $55,000. On the heels of that sale, plans for the new Interstate 75 were revealed, less than a quarter mile from the Parkway property! Suddenly, developers were saying, “This property is much too valuable for a church. You need to move somewhere else,” and almost overnight the value of the church property skyrocketed from the original $6,000 an acre purchase price to over $125,000 an acre. With the jump, banks suddenly found it much easier to consider loaning the church the money necessary to begin construction on a new sanctuary. And on March 31^st, 1963, five years from the time the property had been purchased, ground was broken for the first stage of the new work.

It took an entire summer just to excavate the basement. Construction was slowed to a snail’s pace by the bedrock located just beneath the surface. As the weeks turned into months, one of the jackhammer operators one day remarked to pastor Wallace, “Preacher, nobody’s going to Hell from this church. They couldn’t get through!” But still the work continued and by winter, the footings, foundations, and laminated beams were all in place, and the roof was attached, covered over with tarpaper. In September of 1963 the last service was held in ‘old Felix,’ as the Fifth Street location was affectionately called. From October until June of the following year the Lexington School Board graciously granted the church permission to conduct its morning worship services in the Bryan Station Junior High School. The walls were the final items to be constructed and at long last, on June 21^st, 1964 the first service in the newly named Parkway Baptist Church began with the most appropriate hymn, “To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Hath Done.”

        The current church building was originally designed as a chapel. Long-range plans called for the construction of a larger main sanctuary with twice the size and seating capacity of the current structure. Two additional educational/fellowship buildings were planned, along with an elaborate prayer garden, a 100-foot tall modern art sculpture, and three large paved plazas to connect the campus together, with adequate parking lots besides.

        These future plans sustained a critical blow however, when in three separate moves during the 1970’s executives from IBM, one of the major employers of the members of the congregation, announced plans to relocate segments of their operation to Boulder, Colorado, Austin, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina. In all, over 50 families were impacted by these decisions and the losses to the church were felt not only in terms of people and finances, but also in the loss of relationships, knowledge, talent, skills, and leadership capabilities.

        They were dark days indeed, but the church persevered. In spite of the difficulties major improvements occurred in 1976 as $20,000 was invested in completing the kitchen, carpeting the sanctuary, and covering the floors. The debt of $250,000 was retired in August of 1980. And over the years the church has slowly rebuilt.

        With the coming of the current pastor, and with a welcome upswing in attendance and giving, the church has embarked on another major renovation project, investing $85,000 to expand and restructure the stage area, add additional storage spaces for the upper level, install new carpeting, resurface the flat roof, construct a fellowship pavilion, makeover the offices, completely recreate the interior courtyard, add new padding to the pews, purchase new choir seating, along with a new sound system and video screen for the sanctuary. Today the church’s future appears bright, but only as we recall the sacrifice and dedication of those who came before us.