ANGIER AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH

Angier Avenue Baptist, along with Carr Methodist, traces its origins to the establishment of East Durham in the 1880s. In 1886, two years after the establishment of the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company, RT Howerton of the First Baptist Church organized Sunday School classes in one of two original schoolhouses in East Durham - the Oak Grove School on East Pettigrew Street next to the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Co.

In 1889, members of the Sunday School established the East Durham Baptist Church. Jean Anderson notes that charter members were "Mrs. Jane Gray, Mrs. FD Hudson, and Mrs. AW Renn," who donated a site for a sanctuary on the northeast corner of South Driver Street and Angier Ave.; they built a frame church structure at that location.

(Interestingly, the building is noted as the East Durham M.E. Church on the 1913 Sanborn map...)

1913 Sanborn Map.

In 1924, the original frame church was demolished and replaced by the present neoclassical brick structure; the church was renamed the Angier Avenue Baptist Church.

Angier Avenue Baptist Church, 1950s
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

In 1963, the church expanded to the north, removing houses along South Driver Street to add an "Education Building" annex.

Angier Avenue Baptist Church - Educational Building addition, 05.28.63
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Angier Avenue Baptist, 1980

Angier Avenue Baptist Church, 06.14.93
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Unlike Carr Methodist, the Angier Avenue has been able to sustain itself within the context of changing demographics in East Durham and remains an active congregation.

Angier Avenue Baptist, 10.02.10

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35.982273,-78.877516