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Churches and lodges

First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill

First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill is the Black Baptist congregation formed on September 3, 1865, when sixty-one Black members withdrew from the church now called University Baptist; it worshipped for decades as Rock Hill Baptist on West Franklin Street. It took the name First Baptist when it moved into its brick church on North Roberson Street in 1953.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

A comparative analysis of the structure and function of a white and a Negro Baptist church

Marcus, Laura Hearne · 1951

Laura Hearne Marcus compares two Orange County Baptist congregations in this 1951 study: Carrboro Baptist Church and Rock Hill Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, one white and one African American. Structure, membership and the function of each church are her subjects, with attention to the buildings themselves. One hundred thirty-nine leaves closing with a bibliography.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Rock Hill Baptist Church: Church Class 1890: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1890

Class of students posed outside the Rock Hill Baptist Church building in 1890, in a print and its negative. Part of the churches series in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

CH Historical Society

Rock Hill Baptist Church: Rev Lewis H. Hackney: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Head and shoulders portrait of the Rev. Lewis H. Hackney of Rock Hill Baptist Church. Undated. From the churches series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

CH Historical Society

Published by or for this institution

One hundredth anniversary, 1865-1965 : First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

1965 · First Baptist Church

Souvenir book for the hundredth anniversary of First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, covering the years 1865 to 1965 and printed by the church in its centennial year. Twenty four unnumbered pages with illustrations and portraits.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

The united voices of the First Baptist Church 100th anniversary, 1865-1965.

First Baptist Church (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · 1965 · All American Records

Recording made in First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill on May 23, 1965 for the congregation's hundredth anniversary, issued on a twelve inch long playing disc by All American Records. The container carries a short history of the church by Lewis Caldwell along with lists of the general officers, the board of deacons and the trustees. Sermons and hymns from the anniversary observance.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

The seventy-sixth anniversary celebration of the Rock Hill Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, April 7-28, 1946.

1946 · Rock Hill Baptist Church

Printed program for the seventy sixth anniversary of Rock Hill Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, marking the years 1870 to 1946 and covering observances from April 7 to April 28, 1946. Four unnumbered pages with a portrait, including the schedule of services offered across those weeks.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

Churches in Orange County, North Carolina, South of Interstate 85 from 1756 to 2000

Johnson, George Arthur · 2000

George Arthur Johnson surveys the churches of southern Orange County, the part of the county south of Interstate 85 that takes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, from 1756 to 2000. The volume also includes his talk to the Chapel Hill Historical Society on March 4, 1996, on the university, the churches and the Jews of Chapel Hill. Published by the society in 2000, 144 pages plus lettered pages A to F.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC CH Historical Society

The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975

Little-Stokes, Margaret Ruth · 2006

Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress CH Historical Society

The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975

Little, M. Ruth · 2004 · Preservation Society of Chapel Hill

M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.

Gatza, M. B. · 1992 · Chapel Hill Planning Department

M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Chapel Hill township survey final report

Lally, Kelly A. · 1992

Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

When Chapel Hill was a village

Love, Cornelia Spencer, 1892-1981 · 1976 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC Library of Congress CH Historical Society NC Cardinal
Show 7 more surveys and maps

Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-Year Intervals, 1793-1998

Bryant, Bernard Lee · 1999 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Bernard Lee Bryant's compilation of who occupied each structure on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill at five-year intervals from 1793 to 1998, issued by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1999 as a photocopy of his original computer printout on cotton paper. 191 leaves.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Map of Chapel Hill as it was in 1875 to 1885

Carter, H. D. (Henry Dennis), -1941 · 1934

Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill and vicinity].

Harris, Hunter Lee, 1866-1893 · 1888 · Hunter Lee Harris?

Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

[Map of Chapel Hill].

1895

Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC DPLA

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina.

1925

Sanborn Map Company fire insurance map of Chapel Hill, June 1925, on eleven sheets, with Carrboro also drawn. Sanborn maps recorded the outline, construction and use of each building for fire insurers, so the set shows both towns block by block in the mid 1920s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.

1933

Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Map of African-American Neighborhoods in 1944, Chapel Hill

1944

An appendix map from 1944 marking Chapel Hill's African American neighborhoods: Potters Field, Sunset, Tintop, Knolls and South West Lane. A proposed park north of town, possibly Umstead Park, is also shown.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

DigitalNC DPLA

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Start at OCPL

    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention First Baptist Church, Chapel Hill, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History Stolpen, Steven · 1978

      Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.

    • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

      Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 917.56 HIS Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973

      A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s) Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014

      Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.

    In the chronology

    1. First Baptist Church organizes independently The minute books of the church now called University Baptist record a unanimous vote on September 3, 1865 to let the colored patrons withdraw and organize a church of their own, and note that sixty-one colored members were dismissed that month for the purpose. The new congregation, later First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill, met at first in the old Quaker schoolhouse on Franklin Street under Rev. Eddie H. Cole. UNC Libraries Southern Sources: Founded in 1865: African American Churches at the End of the Civil War
    2. Louis H. Hackney becomes pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church Louis H. Hackney, who had spent six years at Shaw University in the early 1870s and then taught school, became pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church on Franklin Street in January 1877, when he was barely twenty-two. He held the pastorate for sixty years, until his death in 1937. He and his wife had married in 1876. The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 13, 1926, p. 4 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 29, 1927, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 22, 1926, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 24, 1937, p. 6; Open Orange: Louis H. Hackney
    3. Rock Hill Baptist Church adopts a resolution against dancing and card playing Rock Hill Baptist Church, a Black congregation, adopted and published a resolution disapproving of dancing, card playing and similar pastimes among its young people and calling for respect for religion and good morals, for law and order, and for self-control, fellowship and race pride. The committee signing it included Rev. L. H. Hackney and four other ministers. People: Louis H. Hackney The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 14, 1924, p. 1
    4. Rock Hill Baptist Church, a Black congregation led by Lewis H. Hackney, renovates its building By early August 1926 the Rock Hill Baptist Church, a Black congregation, had thoroughly renovated its building, putting in new settees and replacing its old organ with a piano, ahead of a two-week revival beginning August 29. Its pastor, Lewis H. Hackney, was nearing fifty years in the pulpit, having taken the church in his early twenties after study at Shaw University. The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 6, 1926, p. 1
    5. Rock Hill Baptist church marks Louis H. Hackney's 58 years as its pastor Rock Hill Baptist church, Chapel Hill's Black Baptist congregation, honored Rev. L. H. Hackney on 58 years as its pastor with an anniversary program that packed the church. Speakers included the University's M. C. S. Noble, his friend of many years, the president of Shaw University and the pastors of the town's Black churches. People: M. C. S. Noble The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 12, 1934, p. 1
    6. L. H. Hackney retires as pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church Rev. L. H. Hackney, pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church for more than half a century, had retired, and a student from Shaw University was conducting the services. The Weekly reported that his supporters wanted his unpaid back salary settled and a retirement stipend before he was superseded, which the followers of the assistant pastor refused. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 14, 1937, p. 6
    7. Louis H. Hackney dies in Chapel Hill Louis H. Hackney, pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church for sixty years, a teacher who had kept a school on West Franklin Street, and founder in 1912 of the private school on Merritt Mill Road that became Orange County Training School, died at his home in Chapel Hill on December 19, 1937, at 83. He was buried in a Black section of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 24, 1937, p. 6 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ridge Road School, National Register nomination; Cemetery Census: Chapel Hill Cemetery [Old], Black sections A-B; Open Orange: Louis H. Hackney
    8. Black adults attend Monday night classes at Rock Hill Baptist Church By November 1939 Black men and women were meeting every Monday evening for an adult education class in Rock Hill Baptist Church, taught by volunteer teachers from the Orange County Training School. The congregation lent the building but had no money to heat it, and the Weekly appealed for a ton of coal to last fifteen Monday nights. The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 24, 1939, p. 2
    9. Chapel Hill's Black Baptist churches hold a Bible Institute led by F. E. Hercules Rev. F. E. Hercules of Detroit, director of Bible institutes for the National Baptist Convention, held a Bible Institute for Black congregations at the Second Baptist and Rock Hill Baptist churches, with afternoon courses for ministers of the New Hope Association and evening lectures open to the public. The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 5
    10. Black Chapel Hill congregations hold a joint prayer meeting for servicemen Black people of Chapel Hill, from all churches, joined in a special prayer meeting for men in the armed forces at the Rock Hill Baptist church. The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 1, 1943, p. 4
    11. Rock Hill Baptist, renamed First Baptist, holds its first services on North Roberson Street The Black Baptist congregation organized in 1865 had worshipped for decades as Rock Hill Baptist Church on the south side of West Franklin Street. Under its pastor, the Rev. J. R. Manley, it raised $10,001 in the first months of 1952 and began a colonial-style brick church on North Roberson Street between Franklin and Rosemary streets. The first services in the $100,000 building were held on Sunday, September 27, 1953, opening three weeks of dedication services; with the move the congregation took the name First Baptist Church. By early 1954 the old Franklin Street lot stood vacant. The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 25, 1953, p. 4 (Many Visiting Ministers Will Preach at 3-Weeks Dedication of Negro Church) · Also: From the Rock Wall: First Baptist Church; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 21, 1952, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 2, 1953, p. 7; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 9, 1952, p. 4
    12. Black residents march through downtown Chapel Hill to pray for desegregated movies With a parade permit, about 50 Black marchers walked from the First Baptist Church through downtown to the Town Hall for a five-minute prayer service, part of the campaign to desegregate the town's movie theaters. They repeated the march at 12:30 p.m. the following Sunday. Nightly picketing of the downtown theaters had begun on February 6. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 16, 1961, p. 26
    Show all 20 dated events
    1. The Committee of Concerned Citizens raises about $400 for injured demonstrators and the hospitalized faster Committee members served bread and cheese for donations twice a day in the basement of the First Baptist Church, raising about $400 to cover the hospital bills of demonstrators hurt in sit-ins and of the Rev. LaVert Taylor after the fast. People: Joe Straley The Daily Tar Heel, April 4, 1964, p. 1
    2. Chapel Hill holds a memorial march and two services for Martin Luther King Jr. About 600 people, Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson and President William C. Friday among them, marched from Y Court to First Baptist Church on Roberson Street, where some 600 townspeople had gathered for a community service. The next day about 2,000 students and faculty attended a second service in Memorial Hall, with 11 o'clock classes called off. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, William C. Friday, C. Hugh Holman The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1968, p. 1
    3. The Community School for People Under Six opens in First Baptist Church A day school for children from 18 months to six years, in its first year with three full-time teachers and 25 children, was running in the basement of First Baptist Church on Roberson Street, with at least 40 percent of its children from low-income families. It grew out of the Ad Hoc Committee on Child Care organized the year before by Female Liberation, and parents paid on a sliding scale. The Daily Tar Heel, November 14, 1970, p. 1
    4. First Baptist Church evicts the Community School for People Under Six The Board of Deacons and Trustees of First Baptist Church on Roberson Street evicted the Community School for People Under Six, a federally approved day care center for about 40 children of low- and moderate-income families, from the church basement over payment for the building and utilities and the upkeep of the space. The school, begun in September 1970 after the campus cafeteria workers' strike, had to leave by July 31 and appealed to the community for new quarters. The Daily Tar Heel, April 24, 1972, p. 1
    5. First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill completes its Educational Building First Baptist Church, led for 36 years by its fifth pastor, John R. Manley, finished a new Educational Building addition; under Manley the congregation had grown from a one-room building to a large church. Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), April 28, 1983, p. 3
    6. First Baptist Church holds a community King Day service About 100 people attended a community service honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at First Baptist Church in Chapel Hill on January 20, 1992. Roosevelt Wilkerson, president of the Orange County Black Caucus, moderated, and Wendelin Jo Watson, chaplain of the Black Interdenominational Student Association, called on Black and white residents to fix an unjust "system" together. The Daily Tar Heel, January 21, 1992, p. 3
    7. First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill elects Josephine Harris a deacon In January 1994 the congregation of First Baptist Church on North Roberson Street, the town's oldest Black church, elected Josephine Harris a deacon; the Daily Tar Heel called her the first woman the congregation had elected deacon and only the third woman given that honor in North Carolina. The church, founded in September 1865, had about 750 members under the Rev. J.R. Manley, its pastor for 47 years. The Daily Tar Heel, March 21, 1994, p. 4
    8. The Chapel Hill Nine marker site is dedicated on the 59th anniversary of the sit-in The town dedicated the marker site at 5 p.m. in front of the West End Wine Bar, where Colonial Drug had stood, and a march to First Baptist Church followed for a community celebration. Mason-Hogans, a main proponent of the marker, spoke about the task force's work. Chapelboro: Dedication Thursday for Chapel Hill Nine Historical Marker

    Open these in the chronology →

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.

    Background

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 21

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    Collections and databases 5

    Local help 7

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