Old Methodist Church (Rosemary Street)

In the chronology

Storyline about this site, with a page of its own:

• The old Methodist church at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane, 1926–1938

1. July 1853 Chapel Hill's Methodists dedicate their first church In July 1853 the Methodist congregation that became University Methodist Church dedicated its first building, at Rosemary and Henderson streets, paid for with about $5,000 that its pastor J. Milton Frost had raised around the state. The congregation had met since about 1840, with Charles F. Deems preaching in the 1840s and Frost stationed there from January 1851. People: Charles F. Deems University United Methodist Church, Chapel Hill: History · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952; The Daily Tar Heel, October 3, 1975, p. 1
2. March 8, 1889 Methodist trustees sell the old Rosemary Street church to the American Missionary Association With the Franklin Street church ready, the trustees sold the 1853 church and its lot at Rosemary and Henderson streets for $800 to W. H. Hubbard, treasurer of the American Missionary Association of New York, keeping back only the organ, clock and Bible. The building became a Congregational church that Northern friends had bought for Black worshippers. People: John H. Watson, Jones Watson The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 22
3. July 1926 The old Methodist church on Rosemary Street becomes a garage run by Montrose Tull The long-closed 1853 Methodist church at Rosemary and Henderson streets was converted into an automobile repair station, the Club Service Motor Co., run by Montrose Tull. A platform was built from the rear door to Henderson Street for cars. The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 30, 1926, p. 1 · Also: M. Ruth Little, Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill
4. by September 30, 1932 Methodists lend their old church to the Central Welfare Committee for relief work The Methodist congregation lent its small old church, beside its new one, to the Central Welfare Committee as the headquarters for the winter's relief work, with an employment bureau and a depot for donated clothing. Chairman Joseph Hyde Pratt said the King's Daughters would give out clothing in the village and county welfare officer George Lawrence in the country. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 30, 1932, p. 1
5. by October 13, 1933 The county relief office makes its headquarters in the old Methodist church George H. Lawrence, superintendent of public welfare and director of federal relief in Orange, wrote that the relief organization had obtained the use of the old Methodist church in Chapel Hill for its headquarters, with donated office equipment and free telephone, light and water, and appealed for two stoves since relief funds could not buy them. People: George H. Lawrence The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 13, 1933, p. 2
6. by December 21, 1934 The American Legion agrees to buy the old Methodist church for its Memorial Hut The Chapel Hill post of the American Legion announced in December 1934 that it had closed a bargain with Lueco Lloyd to buy the old Methodist church at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane for $3,750, to be rebuilt as the American Legion Memorial Hut at a further cost that H. D. Carter estimated at $1,250. The brick building, lately the MacMillan Motor Company's garage, had been the church of Rev. Adolphus W. Mangum in the years after 1875; the post planned an assembly room, kitchen and lounge and meant it to serve as a community center. In February 1935 the Weekly still spoke of the building as bought, but in March the post dropped the plan as too costly, and a member later said it had only negotiated for the purchase. The post put up a log hut on Rosemary Lane instead. People: Luther James Phipps, H. D. Carter, Lueco Lloyd, Paul H. Robertson The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 22, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 8, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 29, 1935, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1935, p. 1
7. by March 8, 1935 Chapel Hill's American Legion post drops its plan to rebuild the old Methodist church The Legion post gave up its plan to buy the old Methodist church at Rosemary and Henderson streets for $3,750 and make it over as a memorial hut, finding the work would cost more than it could raise, and incorporated as Chapel Hill Post No. 6, American Legion, Inc., to build a simple hut instead. By late March it held an option on a lot on Rosemary Lane opposite the Orange Printshop and planned a log hut from trees given by country members. People: William S. Hogan, Luther James Phipps, Paul H. Robertson The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 8, 1935, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 1
8. January 15, 1938 The Orange County Women's Market moves from Carrboro to Chapel Hill The farm women's market begun in Carrboro the previous September reopened in the old Methodist church building at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane, a block from the Chapel Hill post office, open on Saturdays. About twenty women sold regularly, poultry and cakes led its sales of about $120 a week, and it was run with the home demonstration agent, Grace Holcombe. People: Grace E. Holcombe The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 14, 1938, p. 1
9. October 1940 The Methodist church annex on Franklin Street becomes a recreation center The former Methodist church, kept as an annex when the new church went up in 1926, was converted into a community recreation center. The church offered the annex to the town Recreation Commission in October 1940, and after renovation it was open six days a week, with the commission's office, by December 1940. From June 1942 it also housed a Service Center for men in the armed forces, the use Bryant dates to 1942. People: John S. Bennett Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 267 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 11, 1940, p. 5; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 15, 1940, p. 3; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 5; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 15, 1942, p. 6
10. June 13, 1942 A service center for men in the armed forces opens in Chapel Hill's old Methodist church The Service Center, made ready mainly for the Navy Pre-Flight cadets but open to all servicemen, opened in the old Methodist church, with women of the Baptist church as hostesses, and about 100 servicemen came the first weekend. Seven denominations took turns as weekend hosts, and the building served as the town's recreation center on weekdays. People: Harold D. Meyer The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 19, 1942, p. 2
11. by April 9, 1943 Federal Works Agency grants Chapel Hill $2,700 for wartime recreation The Federal Works Agency approved a Lanham Act grant of $2,700 to keep up Chapel Hill's recreation services, chiefly the Service Center for men in uniform in the old Methodist church, from April 17 to November 30. The Recreation Commission later named Mrs. R. H. Wettach director of recreation. People: Harold D. Meyer, Carl T. Durham The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 9, 1943, p. 5
12. by June 18, 1943 Chapel Hill's Recreation Center counts 64,078 visits in its first year The town reported that service men and civilians had made 64,078 visits to the Community Recreation Center in the old Methodist church in the year since it opened. The Recreation Commission's report for the year ended June 30 put visits by service men at about 50,000. People: Harold D. Meyer The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 18, 1943, p. 4

Open these in the chronology →