Oakland Baptist Church sits on a small urban parcel along the southwest side of King Street, west of the Old Town Alexandria Historic District. The church holds deep cultural, historical and communal importance to “The Fort” community, a post-Civil War settlement founded by formerly enslaved people on the site of the dismantled Fort Ward. The congregation grew from early worship gatherings in a brush arbor beginning in 1888, later relocating to its current site on King Street in 1893. The 1893 church was destroyed by fire in 1931 and rebuilt in 1940. Oakland Baptist Church is nominated under the African American Churches in Virginia Multiple Property Document for its significance as a core community center for African American Alexandrians that has supported education, social welfare, and civic organization, and preserved cultural identity for descendants of “The Fort” community.