71 / 125
70
│
Town Center Plan
January 2007
Appendix 2
14. Shiloh Community
922 Church Street
Two miles north of downtown Morrisville lies the Shiloh community.
This area was originally organized by free African Americans who lived
here beginning in the late 1820s. By 1870, Shiloh was self-sufficient
community with a public school, social clubs, co-op store, and a church.
Born a freeman before the CivilWar, Rev. James Dunston, the third pastor
of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, was instrumental in securing land
ownership, education, and economic development for the residents. In
1925, Dunston personally purchased 2,000 acres of land that reached
from the Durham County line to south of McCrimmon Parkway. He
divided it into parcels and offered it for sale to local families. Shiloh was
annexed into the town of Morrisville in 1987.
17
Photo by Ernest Dollar
Reverend James Dunston
The Shiloh Baptist Church organized in 1867.