Laurel Street Methodist Church was a Methodist congregation and church building in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, United States. Organized in 1849 as the Oregon Methodist Episcopal Church, South, it was the fifth Methodist congregation founded in Richmond.

In 1880-1881 the congregation moved from Church Street, in the eastern part of Oregon Hill, to a new building at Laurel and Albemarle streets designed by the Richmond architect Albert L. West. The building was destroyed by arson on January 15, 1968, after which the congregation merged with Grace Methodist Church to form St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church in Richmond’s West End. The City of Richmond acquired the site in 1971 to establish a public park.Richmond City Council, Richmond, Virginia. Ordinance No. 70-238-228, adopted August 24, 1970.

Laurel Street building

The cornerstone of the new church at Laurel and Albemarle streets was laid on June 22, 1880. The congregation held its first service in the building on Sunday, June 19, 1881. The Sunday school, numbering about 250 marched from the old Oregon Hill building to the new church."Opening a New Church", Richmond Christian Advocate, Volume 15, Number 25, 23 June 1881. p. 2. The building was designed by Albert L. West (1825-1892), a prominent Methodist layman who also designed Trinity Methodist Church and remodeled Centenary United Methodist Church, of which he was a member."Albert L. West Dead", Richmond Dispatch, Number 12.846, September 28, 1892. p. 1.Wilson, Richard Guy; et al. "Centenary Methodist Church". In Esperdy, Gabrielle; Kingsley, Karen (eds.). SAH Archipedia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012–. Retrieved September 23, 2026. The upper auditorium was finished in 1886. The completed church was consecrated on January 23, 1887, with three services, and the Rev. J. Powell Garland led the afternoon dedication. An account in the Richmond Christian Advocate described it as a plain Gothic brick structure with a slate roof, measuring 62 by 48 feet, with an auditorium and galleries that seat 700."Dedication of Laurel Street Church." Richmond Christian Advocate, vol. 22, no. 4, January 27, 1887, p. 2. Construction costs were approximately $9,000. The congregation numbered just over 300 members of modest means. About $500 was raised at the dedication, leaving roughly $200 of the building debt outstanding."Dedication of Laurel-Street Methodist Church." Daily Times, no. 81, January 25, 1887, p. 4. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Oregon Hill Historic District, Laurel Street Methodist had the largest Sunday school in the Virginia Methodist Conference during the 1880s.Buckingham, Carol. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Oregon Hill Historic District. Virginia Department of Historic Resources, October 30, 1990. PDF p. 35 (Section 8, p. 6). Accessed September 21st, 2026. The church celebrated its 50th anniversary with several days of services in October 1899."LAUREL ST CELEBRATION, ITS RISE AND GREAT PROGRESS Fiftieth Anniversary of This Church to be Marked", The Times: Richmond Va, Volume 14, Number 196, 1 October 1899 Pg 16

A new façade was added to the west front in 1909-1910."Spending $10,000 on the church, Laurel Street congregation soon to have handsome house of worship", Evening Journal, Volume 5, Number 59, 13 August 1909, P. 10. The congregation helped establish two further Richmond congregations, Monument Methodist Church and Byrd Park Methodist Church. The congregation celebrated its 100th anniversary in November 1949 when it had approximately 750 members. Mayor W. Sterling King spoke at the service."Laurel Street Church, Richmond to Celebrate 100th Anniversary", Virginia Methodist Advocate, Volume 11, Number 44, 10 November 1949. p. 8.

Destruction and merger

The church was destroyed by fire on the night of January 15, 1968, The blaze was attributed to arson. Photographs taken for the Richmond Times-Dispatch that night, now held by The Valentine, show firefighters working to extinguish the fire at the building at Laurel and Albemarle streets. Rather than rebuild, the congregation voted to merge with Grace Methodist Church to form St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church, off Three Chopt Road in Richmond’s West End.

The site

On August 24, 1970, Richmond City Council adopted Ordinance No. 70-238-228, authorizing the city to purchase the parcel for a public park under the "Parks-in-Cities Open Space Program." The deed was recorded on April 30, 1971, for a consideration of $6,525. In 2003 the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association petitioned the city to name the park for Robert Pleasants (1723–1801), a Virginia Quaker abolitionist. The site is now Pleasants Park.

References