Our History

Hinshaw Memorial United Methodist church was organized as Midway Protestant Church between the third and fourth Sundays of October, 1915 in Greensboro, N.C.. The organization took place in Hill Top School, a one-room frame building located on the Greensboro-High Point highway and one and four-tenths miles southwest from the present location at 4501 High Point Road. Those directing the organization were Rev. S. M. Needham and Rev. Edward Suits. Rev. S. M. Needham was at that time pastor of Guilford Circuit and was holding a special meeting in the school house with Rev. Edward Suits as pulpit help. Those taking part in the organization were, for the most part, former members of Red Hill  Church, which was located approximately one and four-tenth miles from the present location and was on Groometown Road. Midway Protestant Church received it's name by it's location of being midway between Jamestown and Greensboro. Today Hinshaw Church, formerly Midway Church, is now within the Greensboro city limits. 

As Midway Church grew it became necessary for the church to build a building. The members of the church prayed about the ways and means to build it. In 1921 Rev. J. H. Bowman became pastor. He was known as a deeply spiritual man as well as a power in the pulpit. Rev. Bowman was also known as a builder of Churches--claimed by many to have assisted in the building of more churches than any preacher living in the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church at that time. Rev. Bowman worked ambitiously at building Midway a new home. On October 8, 1919 the J. E. Latham Company, Inc., gave to the church organization a good sized lot on the Greensboro-High Point highway. The lot contained one acre and the deed was signed by J. E. Latham, President. The lot having been secured and the plans drawn, with a few gifts already in hand, the time had come to start building. A carpenter was secured from another community to work and also to act as overseer on the new church building. Actually very little labor, other than this, was hired. The church members and people of the community, along with Rev. Bowman, pitched in with a will. The church was completed in the Autumn of 1923. The size of the building was approximately 38 x 40 feet with a seating capacity of about 165 people.

October 1944 brought a new pastor, the Rev. R. P. Waugh. Being student at Duke University, he graduated in June of 1945, and moved into the parsonage. During his pastorate it was decided by the pastor and the congregation that the church must build once again. A building committee was created with R. W. Frazier as chairman, and W. J. Welker as treasurer. This was "The Committee of Sixteen," which later became "The Committee of Twenty." The whole church was organized under this committee to labor and strive in any manner which was "honorable under God," to raise funds for the erecting of a new church building. The building fund continued to grow steadily. The church obtained a small, but very valuable lot about this time. The lot bordered the original lot on the northeast. The two lots together allowed for a new building to be built as well as gave the church property borders to two roads. October 7, 1948 Reverend Robert E. Hinshaw became pastor of Midway Church.  During his service the church began construction of the new church building.

On August 31, 1949 Midway Church was renamed Hinshaw Memorial Church for the Reverend Hinshaw. The church building’s cornerstone was set in 1951. Reverend Hinshaw served at Hinshaw until November of 1951. He later passed away in December of 1951.

Please see this extended section about the history of the United Methodist Church