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Res. 2014 -057 <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />A RESOLUION COMMEMORATING SAINT PAUL AFRICAN METHODIST <br />EPISCOPAL CHURCH <br />ON THE 150TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDING <br />WHEREAS, in 1864, during the perilous times of the Civil War, Kenny Brooks, Green Cordal, <br />Charles Craig, J. Craig, Charles H. Johnson, C.E.H. Johnson, Green Merritt and William <br />Thompson, under the leadership of Jerry Hargraves and Edwin Allen, organized a Black <br />Methodist Church; and <br />WHEREAS, on December 29, 1864, men and women of African and Native American descent <br />assembled under a grape arbor to worship freely on the very same site where the present church <br />building stands on Merritt Mill Road in Chapel Hill; and <br />WHEREAS, in 1870, Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church was inducted into the <br />African Methodist Episcopal Church system, headquartered in Philadelphia; and <br />WHEREAS, on April 15, 1878, the land for the church was purchased for the sum of $55, and <br />the church building was erected in December 1892; and <br />WHEREAS, Saint Paul AME Church building stands as an historical landmark of the local <br />Chapel Hill/Orange County community and of the State of North Carolina; and <br />WHEREAS, in 2002, Saint Paul AME Church formed a non -profit organization, the Grape <br />Arbor Development Corporation, targeting services to Orange County youth in grades K -8; and <br />WHEREAS, Saint Paul AME Church recently purchased 20.4 acres of land for the building of a <br />new and expanded worship center, and additional community amenities in the near future; <br />NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County <br />Commissioners commends the services and achievements of the members, past and present, of <br />the Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church over the past 150 years; and <br />BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners <br />congratulates the members of Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on their <br />Sesquicentennial Anniversary, with Reverend Thomas O. Nixon presiding; and <br />BE IT MOREOVER RESOLVED that Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church is <br />hereby recognized by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners as a pillar in the <br />community, that has served, and may continue to serve, as a beacon of hope, progress, revival and <br />freedom for all. <br />This the 4`h day of September 2014. <br />Barry Jacobs, Chair <br />11169f."Iml <br />