At the corner of Sophia and Hanover Streets, Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) has long been a center of worship, education, and civic life for Fredericksburg’s Black community. Its present brick sanctuary was built in 1890, and its twin towers remain a familiar downtown landmark.

The church’s influence reached well beyond Sunday services. Under the Rev. B. H. Hester, it offered literacy classes and published a newspaper addressing community concerns. In 1960, Old Site became a place to organize and prepare for peaceful lunch-counter sit-ins challenging segregation.

The Rev. Lawrence A. Davies, who came to the church in 1962, later became Fredericksburg’s first Black city council member and mayor. The history of this building is inseparable from the people who worked for opportunity and equality within its walls.