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.

St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church

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.

St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church

Edian Markham is buried in Geer Cemetery.

St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

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

References

External links

Hayti Heritage Center - St. Joseph's Historic Foundation

Hayti Heritage Center at Google Cultural Institute

Churches in Durham, North Carolina

African Methodist Episcopal churches in North Carolina

Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina

Churches completed in 1891

19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States

National Register of Historic Places in Durham County, North Carolina