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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 4t"day of September 2014. <br /> Barry Jaco <br /> Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />