Altadena Baptist Church

As far as we can tell, there has never been any building on the northeast corner of Calaveras and El Molino except a church. The first structure was built by a group of Methodists in 1906, but during the Depression, in 1934, they had to sell it. The group of believers who bought it from them were the founding members of the First Baptist Church of Altadena, an independent congregation which was not affiliated with any denomination.

Meanwhile, a Swedish-speaking group had been established in 1920 as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Pasadena. Over the years, they had become more comfortable using the English language and had increasingly assimilated into American culture. In 1966 the two congregations merged into Altadena Baptist Church. The new church became affiliated with the Baptist General Conference (formerly the Swedish Baptist Conference, and now Converge International). Since then, the Church has been led by four Pastors: James L. Mason (1966-68), Lyndon P. Karo (1969-71), George Van Alstine (1972- present) and Constance Larson DeVaughn (1987- present).