First Baptist Church (Columbia, South Carolina)
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First Baptist Church
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The Boyce Chapel in 2012
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| Location | 1306 Hampton St., Columbia, South Carolina |
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| Coordinates | 34°0′19.97″N 81°2′0.03″W / 34.0055472°N 81.0333417°WCoordinates: 34°0′19.97″N 81°2′0.03″W / 34.0055472°N 81.0333417°W |
| Built | 1856 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000800 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 25, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | November 7, 1973 |
The James Petigru Boyce Chapel is a historic church building at 1306 Hampton Street in Columbia, South Carolina. It is a Greek Revival building built in 1856. A convention met here on December 17, 1860, whose delegates voted unanimously for South Carolina to secede from the United States, leading to the American Civil War. It was designated a National Historic Landmark as First Baptist Church, the role it played at the time.
The First Baptist Church of Columbia was first organized in 1809, with the building of the first church building, located on Sumter Street, in 1811.
The second First Baptist Church was built in 1856 by an unknown architect. Its construction was funded by James P. Boyce, a former president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The following year, in 1860, the Church was the site of the first state convention to discuss secession following the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. It was chosen because it was the largest meeting place in Columbia. Under the chairmanship of D. F. Jamison, a unanimous vote of 159-0 in favor of secession on December 17, 1860 led to South Carolina seceding from the United States; it was the only such convention where the vote to secede was unanimous. Six other states would follow South Carolina's lead before the Battle of Fort Sumter; some felt if they did not secede now, they might lose the argument that a state had the right to secede, a right that has never been confirmed or denied by a court of law.
This convention lasted only one day, as Columbia was then experiencing an outbreak of smallpox. South Carolina's Order of Secession would not be signed until the delegates at this convention reconvened at Charleston, South Carolina on December 20; Columbia's little First Baptist Church was where the power brokers of South Carolina first declared that the state would secede.
When the Union Army invaded Columbia, they set fire to the Washington Street Methodist Church, South, building, led by the black First Baptist sexton who thought that it was the site of the secession convention. The invaders burned a third of Columbia's buildings, but the First Baptist Church was spared.
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