Fall Meeting at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church
Our Fall Meeting on Saturday, October 14, 2023 will be held at West Raleigh Presbyterian Church, a congregation with a remarkable history of service and progressive witness.
A Church Born to Serve NC State
West Raleigh was chartered in May 1927 to serve over 200 students and about 40 professors at NC State College. The majority of the first 60+ members came from First Presbyterian Church, Raleigh. Two visionaries were the beloved English professor Dr. T.P. Harrison and long-time Dean of Students E.L. Cloyd.
The current sanctuary was dedicated in 1952, built on land that had been part of the old state fairgrounds just a decade earlier.
A Legacy of Justice and Inclusion
West Raleigh has long championed equality and justice:
- 1963: Session voted that race would never be considered in membership requests
- Same era: Pastor and elders visited all Hillsborough Street restaurants and persuaded them to open to persons of all races
- 1968: Expanded kindergarten into an accredited multi-racial, multicultural childcare center - the first in Raleigh and first state-qualified daycare
- First in Raleigh: To elect and ordain a female elder, Sibyl Pierce
- Rev. Harriet Isbell: First female minister in an installed position in a Presbyterian church in Raleigh
- 2014: Became an Earth Care Congregation
- 2020: Became a Matthew 25 Congregation
- 2021: Became a More Light Congregation
We’ll also tour the Historic Oberlin Village Turner House Museum, highlighting achievements of this antebellum free Black enclave that grew into an African American municipality built away from White supervision.
History Award
Lois Stickell received the NCPHS History Award for her monumental book: 200 Years in the Heart of Charlotte: A History of First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte (2021, 355 pp).