The Hammond Times, February 7, 2001
September 1959: The Rev. Jack Hyles is named pastor of First Baptist Church, moving to Hammond from a small 44-member church in Garland, Texas, to begin a thriving, fundamental new testament Baptist church at 523 Sibley St.
March 1963: The first First Baptist Church Pastors' School, a program that continues to draw pastors from across the nation, is held in Hammond. The first pastor training program attracted 65 preachers, according to news clips. Twelve years later, attendance was reported to be 3,100.
September 1970: First Baptist Church opens a high school in Lake Ridge School, Calumet Township, and begins to operate a grade school at 700 Sibley.
November 1971: Ground-breaking for Baptist City, a 17-building, self-contained development, on 20 acres of land in Schererville.
September 1972: A full schedule of classes begins at Hyles-Anderson College, which sprang up in Schererville on the grounds of the former Capuchin Seminary of St. Mary. College officials claim Hyles-Anderson to have the largest first-year enrollment of any independent Bible college in the history of America.
February 1975: A new $2 million First Baptist Church auditorium is dedicated at 523 Sibley and described as one of the largest meeting centers in the Calumet Region.
March 1975: Christian Life Magazine reports that First Baptist Church operates one of the largest Sunday schools in the nation, and possibly the world, and has an average weekly attendance of 7,837 to 10,000. During a 10-week bus ministry effort church members reported that as many as 500 people rode the church's 200 buses each Sunday.
December 1976: First Baptist Church buys Memory Lane Cemetery.
June 1977: First Baptist Church purchases the Duckles Bible Camp in Macoupin County, Ill.
June 2, 1977: Hyles-Anderson College reports its largest graduating class, with more than 160 graduates, and gets permission to begin the first of many expansions on campus: construction of a 2,000-seat chapel where the Rev. Jack Hyles preached weekly.
January 1978: Bus safety questions are raised after a fatal accident involving a 9-year-old Chicago boy and a state police inspection. The controversy led to a major overhaul of buses operated by the ministry. Buses continue to travel throughout Northwest Indiana and Chicago as part of First Baptist's evangelical outreach program.
September 1984: The church's downtown Hammond building count for its ministries, including the Sunday school servicemen's ministry and Spanish ministry, rises.
May 1987: Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott praises the church for being the "only buyers in downtown Hammond," and a "savior for a lot of people" when occupants of prime retail space were "selling out." McDermott credits the rejuvenation of Harrison Park to the influx of young Baptists who had moved into the city.
May 1989: The Biblical Evangelist publishes "The Saddest Story," a controversial piece raising allegations by former members about Hyles' personal life and the ministry. The article prompted some to leave the church, and galvanized others to follow Hyles even more strongly than they had before.
July 1993: Thousands participate in a National Church Bus Ministry Parade in downtown Chicago, an event organized to counteract media criticism of First Baptist Church of Hammond and its bus ministry. The parade drew 150 multicolored buses and 75 floats, and comments from pastors across the nation about the merits of the Hammond-based ministry that has helped many and has transported between 7,000 and 10,000 riders to Sunday school in Hammond each week for decades. Many of the riders are minority children from low-income areas of Chicago.
February 2001: The Hammond Redevelopment Commission learns about a proposed plan of First Baptist Church to build a Youth Center in downtown Hammond and create additional parking in the downtown district.