St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church

Historic church in North Carolina, United States

United States historic place


St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


35°59′11″N 78°53′53″W / 35.98639°N 78.89806°W / 35.98639; -78.89806
Area	1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Built	1891
Architect	Leary, Samuel L.
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Eclectic
NRHP reference No.	76001319^[1]
Added to NRHP	August 11, 1976

St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal church building located at Fayetteville Street and Durham Expressway in the Hayti District, now a neighborhood of Durham, Durham County, North Carolina.

Started soon after the American Civil War by black workers, the Hayti District became a well-developed and self-sufficient black community, complete with a variety of businesses and services, including theatre, hospital and hotel.^[2]

The church was built in 1891, by a congregation that had organized in 1869, brought together in meetings in a "brush arbor" organized by Edian Markham, a former slave and AME missionary. After building a couple of wooden structures, the congregation raised money for this brick church, including funds donated by white philanthropists.^[3]^[4]

Edian Markham is buried in Geer Cemetery.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.^[1]

It is now used by the St. Joseph Historic Foundation as the Hayti Heritage Centre for cultural and community activities.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ Washington, Booker T. "Durham, North Carolina, A City of Negro Enterprises," The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 11: 1911-12. Louis R. Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, eds. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. pp. 56-64
^ ^a ^b Louis Allston, "The History of St. Joseph’s AME Church and the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation", St. Joseph Historic Foundation, 2012, accessed 19 June 2012
^ Mary Alice Hinson and John B. Flowers III (April 1976). "St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-10-01.