Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. 1797
   Founding or opening · Orange County The Haw River Circuit takes the place of the New Hope Circuit in serving Hillsborough Methodists

   In 1797 the Methodists replaced the New Hope Circuit with the Haw River Circuit, whose preachers then served the Hillsborough community. The Hillsborough church organized about 1807 belonged to this circuit.

3. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

4. about 1807
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough Methodists organize a church in Hillsborough

   A Methodist congregation was organized in Hillsborough about 1807. Its building in use in 1953 dated from 1867.

5. February 1823
   Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough Methodist Church (first church), Tryon Street, Hillsborough Dr. James Webb deeds Hillsborough's Methodists a lot and house on Tryon Street

   For ten shillings Dr. James Webb conveyed a 44-foot-square part of town lot 102 on Tryon (then Church) Street to trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on condition that a meeting house be kept there. A house already standing on the lot became the congregation's first church.

6. 1859 to 1861
   Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church builds its church

   The Hillsborough Methodist congregation, organized about 1807, bought its lot on April 4, 1859, and John Berry built the church, which was to be dedicated on Sunday, October 6, 1861. The war held up the finishing and the building was not paid for until 1874. Lefler and Wager counted 200 seats, and it was still the congregation's church in 1953.

7. during the Civil War, 1861-1865
   Protest or organizing · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodists refuse to give their church bell to be cast into Confederate cannon

   When Confederate authorities, short of cannon, asked the Hillsborough Methodist Church for its bell to melt down, the congregation turned them down.

8. October 6, 1861
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Tryon Street, Hillsborough Presiding elder William Barringer dedicates the new Methodist church in Hillsborough

   The brick church that Capt. John Berry built on the Tryon Street lot bought in 1859 was dedicated by William Barringer, presiding elder of the Raleigh District. The first sermon in it was preached by Jesse A. Cunninggim.

9. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

10. 1866
    Founding or opening · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough The Methodist conference forms a Hillsborough District, with Hillsborough heading a station of five churches

    In 1866 the Methodists created a Hillsborough District, under presiding elder W. H. Bobbitt, and made Hillsborough a station that also took in Cedar Grove, Walnut Grove, Lebanon and New Sharon. W. C. Wilson was pastor.

11. about 1868
    Founding or opening · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church opens a lending library for its members

    Around 1868 the church began a library of religious and general books, many donated by members and townspeople and some bought by Sunday school classes. Books went out on Sunday mornings, and the record book later counted 937 volumes.

12. 1874
    Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church finishes paying for its building

    The Civil War interrupted work on the brick church John Berry designed and built on West Tryon Street, and the congregation did not finish paying for it until 1874.

13. 1878
    Life event · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough The wife of pastor J. H. Wheeler is buried in front of the Hillsborough Methodist Church

    During J. H. Wheeler's four-year pastorate his wife died and was buried in the church's front yard, a grave the church still showed in 1962.

14. 1884
    Naming or commemoration · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodists report their Sunday school's hundredth anniversary

    In 1884 H. N. Brown reported that the Hillsborough Methodist Sunday school had celebrated its centennial; it then had thirty-five pupils and seven teachers and a library of church literature.

15. April 13, 1891
    Property or economic transaction · Union and Churton streets, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church buys its first parsonage from C. M. Parks

    The church bought about nine-tenths of an acre at Union and Churton streets, with a house that became its first parsonage. The trustees were H. N. Brown Sr., S. M. Gattis, J. A. Harris, O. J. Forrest and James Hedgepeth.

16. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

17. April 30, 1903
    Property or economic transaction · Lot 94, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church buys town lot 94 and its house for a new parsonage

    The church bought lot 94, with a one-story five-room house, from James Webb, son of Dr. James Webb, and used it as the parsonage. The lot later held the 1958 parsonage.

18. about 1920
    Construction or physical change · Lot 94, Hillsborough The Hillsborough Methodist parsonage is remodeled and raised to two stories

    Under pastor J. E. Blalock the one-story parsonage on lot 94 was remodeled with a second story added. It served until 1956.

19. 1940s
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church builds an educational wing

    The congregation added a two-story educational wing behind its 1859 church in the 1940s. Another addition and a covered breezeway followed in 1985.

20. early 1940s
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Pastor S. F. Nicks leads a $12,000 addition of rooms to the Hillsborough Methodist Church

    Soon after returning to Hillsborough in 1940, Nicks proposed adding rooms to the church. Robert Forrest and A. A. Lloyd raised the money with a match of one dollar from the Duke Endowment for every three raised, and much of the work was volunteer labor, Nicks included.

21. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

22. 1957
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick carves the cross for the Hillsborough Methodist sanctuary

    Shepperd Strudwick, a Presbyterian elder who took up wood carving late in life, made the cross for the Methodist sanctuary as well as one for his own church.

23. about 1960
    Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough and New Sharon Methodist churches each become a station church

    Two years after they finished their shared parsonage, Hillsborough and New Sharon left the charge arrangement and each became a station church with its own pastor.

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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 1, 2026.