Then: House on Left

Then: House on Left

Now

Now

The First Baptist Church on Spring Street appears to be a rather simple one-story gable-roofed church until the Italianate window moldings on the side walls are noticed.

The church is what remains of the Chiles House built by Joseph Ballinger Chiles, who first came to California in 1841 with the Bidwell-Bartleson party, the first emigrant train to enter California by way of the Sierra Nevada. Chiles Valley (northeast of Napa Valley) is named for Joseph Chiles. J.B. Chiles built this house himself, so his children could attend school in St. Helena. The first floor double parlors and the hall formed the core of the Baptist Church. The semi-circular arched windows with their eared moldings are all that is visible of the original house. In later years it was New Harvest Community Church and then St. Helena Montessori School. At the present time this building is unoccupied.

1343 spring street st. helena ca