About the BCM at Georgia State
The BCM at Georgia State is a ministry of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. We are an on campus organization that exist to reach students on campus for Christ and to help those that already believe in Christ to grow in their faith. We are an extremely diverse ministry that accurately represents the diversity of Georgia State. Historically, our Building was located at 125 Edgewood Avenue. However, we have recently switched locations. The BCM is located in the historic building at 145 Auburn Avenue. Our building is open Monday-Thursday from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM. Feel free to drop by to study, hang out and play a board game, video game, or just to be around people.
A Whole New World
In December, 2024 after many years of ministry at the building of 125 Edgewood Avenue, the BCM has moved a block over to the Daily World Building. Like our last building, this building has a unique history.
On March 14, 2008, a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, causing $250,000,000 in damage along its six-mile path of destruction, including tearing the roof off of the Atlanta Daily World Building. 145 Auburn Avenue built in 1912, has been home to a wide variety of businesses including the longest-running African-American daily newspaper in our country’s history — the Atlanta Daily World (its namesake), founded by W.A. Scott in 1928. The severe damage forced the paper to move out, and the building sat vacant for four years, with black mold and rotting wood deteriorating the structure, sending it further and further along a path toward demolition through neglect. In 2012, a developer filed a permit to have the building demolished. However, community will intervened. Over 1,100 people, realizing the significance of the building’s history and hoping to preserve it, signed a petition to deny the demo permit. In a show of their political will, the Atlanta Urban Design Commission unanimously agreed, and for the time being, history had a future.
As a point of interest, in 1918, the Virgil Coffee Company occupied the same space Condesa does now. Upstairs, in 1944, District V, Atlanta’s first African-American Girl Scout Troop, took up residence, while Club Poinciana entertained on the lower level with music of the day, including performances and appearances by Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.
We are so excited for the next chapter of history in the Daily World!
The History of 125 Edgewood
The history of the building dates back to sometime prior to 1892. In 1891 the first electrical trolley line was established between Five Points and Inman Park. This brought about the incorporation into the city of Atlanta of the area in which the BSU Center now stands. City directories since that time show the building to have been used as a produce market, a ladies lingerie shop, a plumbing shop, an arts and craft shop, and from 1953 until 1969, Brown’s T.V. Repair Service. The upstairs portion was after used as a boarding house. During the period of World War II as so many other houses in the area, it was known as a “house of ill repute.” The building’s most prominent claim to fame occurred in the early spring of 1900 when city clerk, W. D. Greene, issued a business license to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company at 125 Edgewood Ave. This was the first home of Coca-Cola Bottling Company.
In 1964 the Atlanta Baptist Association purchased the property on the corner of Edgewood and Courtland known as 125 Edgewood Avenue, S.E. At that time Brown’s T.V. Repair Service had a long term lease on the property. In February of 1969 Mr. Brown, the owner of Brown’s T.V. Repair, died. His executors decided to release the long term lease to the Association. In May of 1969 after thirteen years of constant striving to get an established place for the members of the Baptist Student Union at Georgia State College to meet, Dwight Pearce, then director at Georgia State, convinced the association to turn the building over to the students at Georgia State to be used. The students began at that time to renovate the building. Members of Oakland City Baptist Church including many of their young people donated long hours of labor and much of the needed material. Many other churches such as Jefferson Avenue Baptist have helped with material and labor, also. But we are particularly grateful to Oakland City because without them we wouldn’t have been anywhere near the finish of the center.
On May 3, 1970, after a year of hard work the members of Georgia State University Baptist Student Union met with representatives of the Atlanta Baptist Association and invited guests to dedicate the building. The members, to show their appreciation to Dwight E. Pearce for his fourteen years of dedicated service, named the center the “Dwight E. Pearce Baptist Student Center, Georgia State University.”
Beginning fall quarter of 1970 Dwight retired as director from Georgia State’s BSU to enable him to devote more time to the other four colleges where he was BSU director. Among these colleges are Emory University, Piedmont Hospital School of Nursing, and Agnes Scott College. At this time the Georgia Baptist Convention appointed to the BSU its first official full time director, Rev. Larry R. Grass. Larry with his zeal and dedication has led the BSU this year to a more meaningful organization for the advancement of Christ’s work on the campus of GSU.
This building at 125 edgewood avenue has been serving Christ on the Georgia State campus for many decades.