Carrboro Baptist Church (Century Center)

In the chronology

1. about 1901 Thomas F. Lloyd gives a church lot facing his mill to Chapel Hill's four congregations Lloyd offered a Weaver Street lot to the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists of Chapel Hill. The first two gave up their rights, and the Baptists and Methodists built Union Chapel on it in 1901 or 1902, a frame building about twenty by thirty feet. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 39
2. October 30, 1902 Baptists organize Union Chapel in West End On land Thomas Lloyd deeded for churches, Baptists and Methodists shared a small Weaver Street building on alternate Sundays, and the Baptists organized as Union Chapel with seventeen charter members; the congregation became Venable Baptist in 1911 and Carrboro Baptist in 1914. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder), John C. Hocutt HillSong Church: HillSong Church History
3. 1912 Union Baptist Church becomes Venable Baptist Church Once the Methodists stopped meeting there around 1910, the chapel was known as Union Baptist Church. In 1912 the congregation took the name of the newly incorporated town of Venable. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 39
4. 1914 Venable Baptist Church becomes Carrboro Baptist Church In 1914, the year after the town was renamed for Julian S. Carr, the Baptist congregation changed its name again, to Carrboro Baptist Church. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 19
5. 1921 Toney and William Strayhorn begin Carrboro Baptist's brick church When the Rev. J. B. Davis called for full-time services, the Baptists traded their lot for a larger Durham Hosiery lot on North Greensboro Street and hired the Strayhorns, who laid the foundation and ground-floor walls in 1921. Money ran short and work stopped until 1924, a break visible in two shades of brick. People: William Strayhorn Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 40
6. September 1923 Carrboro Baptist Church expels three women for swimming in the pool with men The Weekly reported that Carrboro Baptist Church, under Rev. J. B. Davis, turned out three women members on charges of being in the Carrboro swimming pool at the same time as men, after he had preached against the pool. The deacons answered that non-attendance and non-support were also charged, and Davis spoke of suing the paper for libel; the women held the pool was the only cause. The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 27, 1923, p. 1
7. 1924 Carrboro Baptist Church completes its brick church at Greensboro and Main The mill-town congregation built a brick church at the corner of Greensboro and Main streets and moved in after its dedication early in 1924; the building is now the Town's Century Center. The church history says the congregation borrowed $50,000 and paid off the debt in 1942; the Weekly put the cost at about $45,000, of which only $15,000 had to be borrowed, the rest raised in Carrboro, mostly among working people. HillSong Church: HillSong Church History · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1924, p. 1
8. about 1924 Union Chapel is taken down and its materials go into McDuffie Baptist Church Once the brick Carrboro Baptist Church was finished, the old frame chapel was dismantled and its materials used to build a church on N.C. 86 north of Chapel Hill, named for early Carrboro Baptist minister McDuffie. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 40
9. by March 6, 1924 Carrboro Baptists dedicate their new church Carrboro's Baptists dedicated and moved into their new church, built for about $45,000, of which $30,000 was raised in Carrboro, mostly among working people of small means; it had 13 Sunday school rooms and could seat more than 800. The pastor, Rev. J. B. Davis, drew the plans and gave the church a piano, and Rev. J. A. Hunnicutt of Landrum, South Carolina, preached the dedication sermon. The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1924, p. 1
10. June 8, 1924 Carrboro Baptist pastor J. B. Davis resigns to teach in Texas Rev. J. B. Davis announced at the Sunday night service that he was resigning as pastor of the Carrboro Baptist Church, effective September 1, to join the faculty of a college in Texas. A church member said the work of building the congregation's new church had worn on his health. The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 13, 1924, p. 1
11. early October 1933 Carrboro Baptists sell Brunswick stew to pay on their church debt When interest came due, the women of the Carrboro Baptist church cooked and sold Brunswick stew and reportedly cleared $525 toward the debt on the brick church, which had cost about $60,000 and was said to owe about $7,000. The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 13, 1933, p. 4
12. by March 27, 1952 Carrboro Baptist Church buys the Tripp property next to the church The church bought the rented Tripp lot at Weaver and Greensboro streets, planning a brick building there for its growing Sunday School; it had just repainted its sanctuary, and more than 600 people filled it for a song festival. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 27, 1952, p. 7

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