Palm Avenue Baptist Church

We're starting in a school, and that's on purpose.

On January 31 we'll gather at Brewster Technical College — 2222 N. Tampa Street, about three blocks from the historic Palm Avenue building.

Why not in the historic building you may ask? Idlewild (our sending church) officially received it in 2026, and it matters to us enormously. But getting a hundred-year-old sanctuary ready to hold people again is the work of months and years, not days or weeks.

So we're not waiting on a building to be a church. We start in January, in the neighborhood, in a room down the street — and we'll work toward that sanctuary together.

Come with us

126 years, and it isn't finished.

Palm Avenue Baptist Church was organized on February 1, 1900 — seventy-six people who walked out of First Baptist Tampa to start something on the corner of Florida and Palm. They met in a house. Then a tent. Then, in 1913, a building they paid off free of debt.

A fire closed the sanctuary in the 1980s. The congregation didn't close with it — they moved into the fellowship hall and kept meeting there for the next forty years, smaller but faithful, through decades when it would have been easier to lock the doors.

In 2026, Idlewild Baptist Church received the property — not to preserve a building, but to stand with the church that is still here and help it grow. That's the work we're starting in January.

We owe this moment to the people who kept Palm Avenue meeting all those years. This isn't a new church. It's the same one — and we're joining it.

1900

Seventy-six people

Organized February 1. Seventy-six members left First Baptist Tampa and met in a house on the corner of Florida and Palm.

1909

A tent, $225

The old house of worship was sold and moved off the lot. A tent went up at Florida and Amelia while they built.

1913

Free of debt

The walls of the main auditorium went up, and the building was finished — paid off, free of debt, with help from the Home Mission Board.

1955

Our Program of Progress

A full house. Three front doors, Sunday best, and a line down the steps every week.

1980s

The fire, and what came after

A fire closed the sanctuary. The congregation didn't stop. They moved into the fellowship hall and kept meeting there — Sunday after Sunday, for the next forty years.

Four decades

They never closed

Smaller, but still gathering. Forty years of Sunday mornings, funerals, potlucks and prayer in the fellowship hall — held by people who would not let Palm Avenue go dark.

2026

Received

Idlewild receives the property, with final approval in August. Most people thought the transfer was impossible.

2027

A new season begins

First public gathering Sunday, January 31, at Brewster Technical College — three blocks from the old building, and one day shy of 126 years to the date.

Someday

Back on Palm Avenue

Restoring the sanctuary will take years. We're not waiting on it to be a church — but we are working toward the day we walk up those steps.

A new season
on Palm Avenue.

We're starting in a school, and that's on purpose.

Make History.

A few dates worth holding.

First Public Gathering

Updates

Help Tell the Story of Palm Avenue

We are just getting started.

126 years, and it isn't finished.