| The Mill Creek Baptist Church is actually named for the region of Kentucky
which was served by the original church when organized in 1782. The Mill Creek
community might be considered the rugged land bordered on the South and West by
the Salt River, on the North by the Salt River hills and Muldraugh Hill, and on
the East by Bullitt County. The old road running from the county seat at
Elizabethtown to West Point (now known as Dixie Highway or US31W) would have
been the Western boundary. An early road running from Elizabethtown to
Shepherdsville and the Bullitt Salt Works ran northward along the southeastern
portion of the territory. Most of this area we refer to as Mill Creek is
now part of the Fort Knox military reservation.
The original church was built in the Spring of 1783 of long-lapped logs tied
in the center, with two attached logs tied together as a cross beam. The
church was square and was thirty three feet long from center to center notch.
It was set on a stone foundation on a hill overlooking Mill Creek.
Captain Abraham Lincoln (grandfather of President Lincoln), William Owens,
Luke Calvin, and Samuel Haycraft, Jr. built the church within the Cowley area of
land adjoining the plot of Samuel Haycraft, Sr. The location of the church
was such that it was within one-half mile of where Bathsheba Lincoln (the
President's grandmother) lived.
The Mill Creek Church was built as a Baptist Church since that was the
principal religion of the community. As in all pioneer settlements, the
Regular Baptist Church on Mill Creek served not only as a meeting house for the
religious congregations, but also served the citizens of the area for all
meetings of common concern. The Baptist Church at Mill Creek was one of
the first edifices built West of the Allegheny Mountains.
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