Manning Collection, West Side Baptist Church (SC-377)

The West Side Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, was organized in the Westwood neighborhood of West Dayton in 1935. At the time period of the materials in this collection, it was located at 544 Anna Street, its pastor was Sam Sloan, and its congregation was predominantly white (as demonstrated in the photos of this collection). The building at 544 Anna Street, was later owned by the Mount Zion Church of God in Christ.

About 1950, the congregation was renamed Westwood Baptist Church, and by 1954, it had also moved to a larger building about 1 mile away: 3801 Fairbanks Avneue. In the early 1960s, the congregation sold this building to a predominantly African American church congregation, Shiloh Baptist Church, and moved to Kettering, becoming the Far Hills Baptist Church. At the time of the move to Kettering, the congregation was reportedly the largest Southern Baptist church in Ohio (1800 members) and the oldest in Dayton. According to the Baptist Press News Service of the Southern Baptist Convention (1961 Nov 23), Pastor S. M. Mulkey stated, "We are relocating [to Kettering] because our membership has moved from this area [Westwood]." The congregation's eventual location in Kettering was 5200 Far Hills Avenue (later occupied by the Apex Church).

Marion Donald "Don" Manning (1927-2019) was born in Pine Knot, Kentucky, and served in the Army during the Korean War. He worked at the Frigidaire Division of General Motors in Dayton, Ohio, for 33 years, and moved to Florida after retirement. According to his obituary, "Don was a man of great faith [and] served in the Baptist Church..." Presumably, these photographs depict the Baptist church congregation to which Manning belonged when he lived in Dayton, and he or his wife may be pictured in the photos as well. Don and his wife Eula "Elsie" Manning (1927-2012) are buried in Sarasota National Cemetery in Florida.