On April 15, 1982, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

First Baptist Church in Newton was founded on July 5, 1780, on a site just west of the present building.

[2] The present building was constructed in 1888 in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style pioneered by Henry Hobson Richardson.

The church's architect was John Lyman Faxon.

[3] Samuel Francis Smith, famous as the author of My Country, 'Tis of Thee (also known as America), was minister of the church from 1842 to 1854.