The Gateway Baptist Church will celebrate its Wellington Street site’s 140th birthday on Sunday, presenting an opportunity to reflect on years of regeneration, expansion and multiculturalism.
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The distinctive Wellington Street church was founded by a wealthy English man, Henry Reed, who arrived in Tasmania in 1827 as a 21-year-old, and went onto become very successful in his new homeland.
Mr Reed purchased what is now Dunorlan House - the structure to the left of the large church - to create a ministry for those less fortunate in Launceston.
The property, which was back then Parr's Royal Hotel, was bought for 1000 pounds.
The congregation's size swelled, and a new building was required.
The new double-storey building was opened in 1880.
It was built to accommodate a growing Sunday school, and had an area downstairs which could cold 300 people.
Mr Reed died in 1880.
Peter Cuthbertson, a deacon of the Gateway Baptist Church, said Henry Reed was a much-respected figure in the church's history.
Mr Cuthbertson said Mr Reed came to believe in God after he fell out of a boat, unable to swim, and happened to be able to walk from a sand bar to safety on the shore.
"[That] was one of the turning points in his life, and from then on he became a committed Christian," Mr Cuthbertson said.
"He was a much-respected merchant."
Mr Reed’s wife, Margaret Reed, concluded along with the pastor and church elders that a building should be erected in her late husband's honour.
The foundation stone was laid on July 19, 1883 and construction finished in 1885.
The striking new building, initially called The Temple but later named the Memorial Church, was designed by F. Tyson and built under J.T. Farmilo.
The church was able to fit 1200 people, and was full every Sunday.
It was then named Reed Memorial Church, until the church became part of the Baptist denomination in the 1930s, and the name was changed to Memorial Baptist Church.
The building became Gateway Baptist Church in 2002.
In the modern era, the church is proud of its culturally diverse congregation - more than half its parishioners are from Launceston's Bhutanese community.
Mr Cuthbertson said people appreciated the congregation's welcoming spirit.
He said he admired the church's architectural interior.
"I'm always impressed by the quality of the woodwork that you don't get these days, when you look at those solid pews … I like the fact that it has natural light coming in," Mr Cuthbertson said.
