Trinity United Methodist Church (Durham, North Carolina)

The congregation at Trinity, one of the oldest Methodist congregations in Durham, was founded in 1832.^[1] They were known as the Orange Grove Church and later as the Durham Methodist Church.^[1] They first met in a small school house on Raleigh Road.^[2] In 1861, they purchased the current plot of land and built a small pine wood church that sat two hundred people.^[1] The church was damaged during Sherman's March to the Sea during the American Civil War.^[1] The building was temporarily used as a military hospital for wounded soldiers and, after the war, was used a women's seminary.^[1]

In 1881, a new building was built to house the growing congregation. In 1886, the church was renamed Trinity Methodist Church. A group of congregants established a new church on Main Street in the West End neighborhood.^[1]

On January 21, 1923, the church was destroyed in a fire.^[2] The current building was constructed in 1924, designed by the architect Ralph Adams Cram, who had previously designed St. Philip's Episcopal Church.^[2] The steeple was added in 1985.^[1]