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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. June 4, 1917
   Protest or organizing · Court House, Hillsborough A Red Cross mass meeting at the Hillsborough court house enrolls new members

   On the eve of draft registration, J. C. Webb presided over a mass meeting at the court house where Edward Bond of Edenton, a soldier back from the Mexican border, and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence spoke, and Frank Nash introduced Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh on the purpose of the Red Cross. Six young women then enrolled members.

3. 1921
   Construction or physical change · Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill Under rector Alfred Lawrence, the Chapel of the Cross asks Hobart Upjohn to design a new church

   The vestry, led by its new rector Alfred Lawrence, asked church architect Hobart B. Upjohn to design a larger building linked to the old chapel by a cloister, after a 1920 diocesan resolution called for enlarging the church to serve the university.

4. 1925–1926
   Founding or opening · Chapel Hill Alfred Lawrence helps found the Chapel Hill School of Religion

   Lawrence took part in organizing the Chapel Hill School of Religion in 1925-26; funded by the town's churches, it opened its first non-credit courses in the fall of 1926. His papers hold material on it from 1925 and 1926.

5. May 12, 1925
   Construction or physical change · Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill The new Chapel of the Cross church is consecrated

   The Upjohn building, from then on called the Church, was consecrated during Alfred Lawrence's rectorship. The parish timeline notes that male students in the campus ministry resisted including women students.

6. 1926
   Protest or organizing · Chapel Hill Alfred Lawrence publicly opposes fundamentalist attacks on teaching evolution

   The Chapel of the Cross rector took a public stand against fundamentalist efforts to bar the teaching of evolution in public schools, introducing a diocesan resolution against limits on freedom of thought, teaching and research.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.