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Religious Diversification (1.6.4)The early twentieth century saw a substantial increase in the number of churches in the city. With development of residential areas along North Road Street, new white Methodist (City Road) and Baptist (Blackwell Memorial) congregations were formed; stylishly similar structures were erected between 1900 and 1904 at 511 and 700 North Road Street, respectively. Congregations of A. M. E. Zion (Bell Street) and Disciples (Solid Rock) affiliations, both black, were organized in the adjacent Sawyer Town area. As black neighborhoods expanded in the 1910s to tile south towards the new campus of the State Colored Normal School, St. James A. M. E. Zion Church (805 Park Street) and St. James Baptist Church (1326 Southern Avenue) were organized to serve new residents in tile vicinity (Sanborn maps 1914, 1923). |
By 1942, the city had seventeen congregations each for blacks and whites, a significant numerical increase in churches (there were only four white churches and five black churches in 1900). The addition of new denominations gave Elizabeth City the most diverse religious climate of the Albemarle region. These new denominations included Roman Catholic (with separate white and black congregations), Assembly of God, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian, Pentecostal Church of Christ, Pentecostal Holiness, Free Will Baptist, and Salvation Army. Furthermore, there were several local nondenominational churches in the black neighborhoods (Miller 1942, 10; Sanborn 1914). | ||
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