Church

Martin Van Buren Ellis, star of "Tobaccoland, Inc.," a movie distributed nationally by the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company in the late 1930s, became the first member of the Ellis Chapel United Methodist Church when it was organized in 1900. Ellis, who died in 1940, is buried in a cemetery that surrounds the church on a lovely promontory...

A group of Baptists living in western Wake County formed a new congregation in 1875 and requested the services of student ministers at Wake Forest College. Rufus Ford became the first pastor of the new Olive Branch Baptist Church and the congregation met for worship in the Dayton Academy building (now demolished). After Ford graduated in 1878, other student pastors served until in 1924 professional clergy replaced them. The following year, the present church building, a unique structure in Durham County, was completed.

04.08.09 Per the church website: Russell Memorial C.M.E Church was founded in 1902 in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Stroud on Chapel Hill Street (now Kent Street) under the leadership of Rev. Joseph S. Miller. The congregation soon outgrew this setting, and the first structure was purchased, which was called King Chapel. In the early 1930's the...

1950s 11.17.11 (Courtesy Jackie Bayne Knight)

1950s

08.28.11 Colonial Revival style brick church with front gable, 8-bay-deep nave, a shallow portico, a bell tower, and a rear 2-story wing. The rear wing was built first, about 1960. Later the church bought and demolished the Dr. McCracken House facing Club Blvd. to make room for the new sanctuary.

Rougemont Methodist, 1950s Rougemont Methodist Church, 02.07.09

This church body dates back to the 18th century in Bahama, and has been on this site since 1901. This structure was built in 1949, replacing the 1901 church.

Built on the site of an earlier church known as Good Hope Baptist, the opening of this structure in fall 1936 was accompanied by the congregation's name change to Mount Zion Baptist. James E. Shepard, President of nearby North Carolina College (later NCCU), spoke at the inaugural service. Mount Zion sold the building to Solid Rock Full Gospel...