Like many churches built for African American congregations in this era, the church has two prominent corner towers of unequal height. Cornerstones read “Gastons Chapel A. M. E. Church 1900” and “Completed by W. H. Carter, Pastor, 1911.” See Dana E. Mintzer, Gaston Chapel National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1984. Church records and oral history cited in the nomination mention Philo Gaither Harbison, a carpenter and superintendent of the Sunday School; Calvin Avery, a carpenter; and Howard Coleman and Jerry Avery, bricklayers. The surname Avery, like Gaither, was common among Morganton’s leading white citizens as well as black citizens.