Auburn University Chapel
You cannot talk about the origins of Auburn—like most towns and cities in the South—without talking about the skilled, enslaved laborers who were forced to cut-down the trees, clear the land, cut the roads, plow the fields, mill the lumber, make the bricks, cut the roads, and construct the buildings. Yet because we do not know their names, they receive no credit and their contributions are a distant thought, if at all. Instead, credit and accolades are given to their enslavers who forced a brutal labor and in the case of the Auburn University Chapel, threatened violence to any abolitionist who presented opposition, then preached weekly behind the pulpit upon completion and dedication of the church.
Completed in 1851 as the first Presbyterian Church in Auburn, the Auburn University Chapel is the oldest building still standing on its original site. Enslaved laborers handmade the bricks at a quarry along the West Point—Montgomery rail line. The bricks likely made their way by rail to Auburn and delivered by enslaved draymen to the construction site. Enslaved laborers then expertly placed the bricks to erect the walls of the church and then handmade, pegged and slotted the trusses, girders, and joists that remain years to this day.
Completed in 1851 as the first Presbyterian Church in Auburn, the Auburn University Chapel is the oldest building still standing on its original site. Enslaved laborers handmade the bricks at a quarry along the West Point—Montgomery rail line. The bricks likely made their way by rail to Auburn and delivered by enslaved draymen to the construction site. Enslaved laborers then expertly placed the bricks to erect the walls of the church and then handmade, pegged and slotted the trusses, girders, and joists that remain years to this day.
Years that testify to the artisanship, engineering, and skill that embodied the spirit of resilience, perseverance, and hope of freedom upon which Auburn was built. A spirit commonly disregarded for over a century and a half, yet alive today. A spirit that is intimately felt as one places their fingers in the prints left in the aged brick formed 170 years ago under the shadow of the overseer and the threat of the whip. And yet we cannot know their names, but we can know and honor their spirit.
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