Oak City Baptist Church had its beginning in 1865, in meetings held in various homes in Raleigh Historic Method Community. The community was first called Slave Rent, then called Slab Town and later Masonville, after Lewis Mason bought 69 acres of the mostly wooded area from a Confederate Army General named William Ruffin Cox. The Church and community were formed after the emancipation, when former slaves built their own homes in this area that is bounded by western Boulevard and Hillsboro Street.
