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The 1753 Laws of North Carolina created Rowan County from Anson County and created the Church of England Parish of St. Luke’s. Theodore S. Drage, missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel under the Bishop of London, was the first rector, being appointed in 1769. Drage wrote to London in 1771: “The place where I reside is named Salisbury. . . . I found the Fine air, temperate climate, and a fertile country—I found the people of the Church of England disheartened, and dispersed like sheep, but I have collected them into about forty congregations.” The parish was reorganized in 1823 and admitted to the Diocese in 1824.
The present building, fashioned in Gothic Revival style, was consecrated in 1827 and completed under the supervision of John Berry of Hillsborough and completed the following year.. A number of additions have been made to the small original structure, including a baptistery and a bell tower, creating a cruciform plan.
References:
Archibald Henderson, The History of St. Luke’s Parish and the Beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Rowan County (c. 1924)
Lawrence Foushee London and Sarah McCulloh Lemmon, ed., The Episcopal Church in North Carolina, 1701-1759 (1987)
Davyd Foard Hood, The Architecture of Rowan County (1983)
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003)
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