Trinity United Methodist Church is Durham's oldest continuous congregation, tracing its history to an 1830 revival at a place called Orange Grove on the Hillsborough-Raleigh road in present-day East Durham. William R. Herndon donated a house for a place of worship in 1832, when the congregation had 30 members.

Still known as Orange Grove Church, the congregation relocated to its present site in 1861, erecting a wood-frame church with seating for 200 and adopting the name Durham Methodist Church in 1866. The name became Trinity Methodist Church with dedication of a new brick building, complete with its landmark spire, in 1881. The present Gothic church is the third at the Church Street location, built after a fire destroyed the 1881 building in 1923.