BUILDING IN
BRICK / THE FIRE / REBUILD
In 1884 the church laid the cornerstone for its first brick edifice, with formerly enslaved builder Stewart Ellison named as the project manager. Ellison was also among the first Black men to serve in the state legislature, and he served as a Vice President for the first North Carolina Freedmen’s Convention. An officer of the church, Ellison worked on the construction of Dix Asylum and area Freedmen’s Schools. A master carpenter for eastern North Carolina, Ellison learned his trade as an enslaved apprentice.
Rev. Richmond W.H. Leak led the church building campaign. Some of the region’s finest carpenters and brick masons counted themselves among the St. Paul congregation, and they did much of the work themselves, displaying their local and skillful craftsmanship. They worked to construct the church for nearly two decades as time and funds would allow. Church members used thrift and sacrifice, saving to donate to the church building. The St. Paul congregation officially celebrated the church’s completion in May 1901 with a two-week rally and a speech from Governor Charles B. Aycock.
Unfortunately, an errant Fourth of July balloon, in 1909, set St. Paul ablaze, destroying all but the exterior brick walls, a few of the pews, and scorched beams. Members of the church—many of them domestic workers, laundresses, and rail workers—sold sandwiches, donated nickels and dimes, and ate “bread and molasses” to save money.
The congregation quickly rebuilt within the walls that survived the 1909 fire. Gaston Alonzo Edwards, the first Black licensed architect in the state, led the building project. They rebuilt within the existing walls and opened at the same location in 1910. That is the structure you see today, with brick walls from the 1884, hosting an interior from 1910, and celebrating a congregation whose roots began in the early 1800s when their ancestors worshipped on Edenton Street, faithful to the God they knew would deliver the blessings of freedom.
