The Baptist church was organized in Grass Valley in 1894 in the home of F.E. Clark with 18 charter members.
Pastors: Elder M.F.S. Henton 1894-1895 who began at once to talk of building a meeting house, Arthur Royse 1895-1896, Richard Hargreaves 1896-1897, Charles P. Bailey 1897-1898, G.W. Black 1898-1899, J.B. Spight 1900-1902, E.H. Hicks 1902-1904, J.C. Havnaer 1909-1910, Bro. Clivenger 1911-1912, Samuel McMinis 1912-1921, I.S. Hall 1921-1925, E.B. Johnson 1925-1926, Ed C. Cofer 1926-1929, M. Storms 1929-1931, S.L. Boyce 1931-1937, Gerald Dryden 1937-1942, Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson 1943-1945, Howard Schilling 1945-1948, A.L. Kintner 1948-1952, Charles Meyers 1952-1954, Donald Leach 1954-1960, Maynor Reed 1960-1962, D. Dunham 1963-1964, Arthur H. Brown 1965-1987, R. Stephen Brown 1987-1994, Dale Gibson 1995-1999 and J. Richard Keeney 2000-present.
Construction of the 26’ x 40’ church started September 16, 1894. Rev. Arthur Royse served in 1895 when he was principal of the Baptist Academy. Rev. C.P. Bailey preached a series of doctrinal sermons in 1898.
In 1906 the church building was moved to a site below the elevator and remodeled. A parsonage was purchased in 1910 for $600. In 1939 the church burned and lots were purchased from the city near the business center the next year. In 1941 the new building was dedicated. Additions included a fellowship hall in 1949, six classrooms and kitchen in 1958 and a new parsonage off-site in 1990.
First Baptist Church, Grass Valley is associated with the Conservative Baptist Association of America, Conservative Baptist Northwest and the National Association on Evangelicals.
~ Carsten von Borstel; J. Richard Keeney, 2009; Phil Hirl.