As early as 1836 there were some Baptist families in the Ottawa area, and by 1838 some of these families began holding organized meetings. The Baptist Church of Ottawa was officially organized in 1841. The Baptists were the first Protestant denomination to erect a church building in central Ottawa. Rev. Thomas Powell was responsible for organizing it as well as a number of other nearby Baptist churches. 

The church continued to grow both spiritually and in numbers, outgrowing the first church building and then another, during the late 1800s. During the 1860’s, the church was involved in building a new sanctuary, but had to put it on hold because of the Civil War. This unfinished building was used during this period for patriotic meetings. This congregation supported the United States during this time, even to helping runaway slaves find their way further north. A prominent citizen of Ottawa and a leader of this church, Hossack, stood trial in Chicago for supporting a black man and morally won. 

On December 12, 1886, Rev. Gilbert Frederick became pastor and soon afterwards a larger building became absolutely necessary. When the church was built and almost finished and ready for dedication there were still bills of about $4,000.00. Dr. Frederick had a desire to have the new building dedicated without a cent of debt. He was almost immediately able to raise a sum of $5,000.00 from the congregation and friends, making his dream come true. This church building was dedicated in December 1890. 

On an August evening in 1959, the church caught fire and was severely damaged. Just prior to the fire, a very extensive remodeling and restoration project had taken place. A lot of hard work and money had been put into it. Thankfully, leadership had the foresight to properly insure the building. Those funds formed the nucleus of the funding for the new building. Now the congregation joined in the heartbreaking experience of again building a church. Local churches and Christian friends showed many kindnesses and courtesies in allowing us the use of their building and facilities in the interim time. 

The corner where the old church stood afforded no room for expansion, so a ten-acre tract of land was purchased on the south edge of town. During the building process, a hard-working building committee, along with the support of the congregation, spent many hours helping our church rise again from this tragic event. The new and present church was dedicated September 10, 1961.  

In 2016 our church celebrated our 175th anniversary.