Duke Memorial United Methodist Church
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Duke Memorial United Methodist Church
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| Location | 504 W. Chapel Hill St., Durham, North Carolina |
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| Coordinates | 35°59′51″N 78°54′34″W / 35.99750°N 78.90944°WCoordinates: 35°59′51″N 78°54′34″W / 35.99750°N 78.90944°W |
| Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
| Built | 1907 |
| Architect | Kramer,George W.; Underwood,Norman |
| Architectural style | Gothic, Romanesque |
| MPS | Durham MRA |
| NRHP Reference # | 85001781 |
| Added to NRHP | August 11, 1985 |
Duke Memorial United Methodist Church is a historic Methodist church at 504 W. Chapel Hill Street in Durham, North Carolina. It was originally established in 1886. The congregation’s growth paralleled Durham’s growth as a manufacturing center in the textile and tobacco industries and has maintained a close connection with Duke University (formerly Trinity College). From its beginning, the church has counted among its members many of Durham’s educational and industrial elite. It is named in honor of tobacco magnate and philanthropist Washington Duke and his sons, who were instrumental in the building of the church.
What would become Duke Memorial United Methodist Church grew out of the original Methodist congregation in Durham. Members of the Durham Methodist church, soon to be renamed “Trinity Methodist Church,” saw the need for new churches to serve the growing east and west sides of the city. Durham’s population was swelling thanks to the rapid growth of cotton and tobacco manufacture in the city. Tobacco firms like Washington Duke, Sons & Co, and W.T. Blackwell & Co. as well as thriving cotton firms like that of Julian Carr were bringing throngs of new workers to the edges of the city. J.J. Ward wrote of Durham in 1884, “I never saw nor heard tell of a town thriving any faster than Durham.”
Maude Wilkerson Dunn, daughter of Durham builder Albert Wilkerson, recalled a meeting between her father and Washington Duke: “Mr. Washington Duke was at our house one day and he said…“We’ve got to build another Church.” The factory was just beginning to go and people were moving in here. From just a mere nothing but a store or two beside the road, it was beginning to become quite a town. So Pap said, “We have Trinity Church.” Mr. Duke said, “Yes, but we’ve got to have one for the masses.” So they began, and Main Street Church was built.”
Industrialists like Washington Duke and Julian Carr did not want Durham to be only a wealthy city; they hoped that Durham would grow into a city which also had culture. Durham at this point was an economic boom-town, with the potential to become a rowdy and unorganized industrial city like many others in the American south and west. Thus they encouraged the founding of institutions of civilized society, like churches and institutions of higher education, to accompany Durham’s material growth. The establishment of Trinity College in Durham and the building of this church are two primary examples.
However, Durham’s elite were not the only religiously excited members of the community. During the latter half of the 1880’s, a series of camp-style revival services were held in and around Durham. They drew very large crowds. Sam Jones, a famous evangelist of the day, publicly converted Durham tobacco magnate William T. Blackwell at one such revival. And, although the vast majority of the community remained Protestant, the first Roman Catholic congregation in Durham was established in 1887. The people of Durham, regardless of social or economic standing, were by all measures very religiously active at this time.
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