The O’Kelly Monument is located in the historic neighborhood of Elon University, adjacent to the Alamance Building, in Elon, North Carolina. The statue was erected in 1929 in honor of one of Elon’s founders: James O’Kelly. O’Kelly was a preacher in present-day Alamance County; he attacked slavery as unchristian and insisted on equal authority among ministers. During the 1792 General Conference of the Methodist Church, he withdrew from the denomination following a disagreement and founded the Republican Methodist Church a.k.a the Christian Church. O’Kelly founded several chapels throughout Virginia and North Carolina throughout his lifetime In 1926, the Southern Christian Convention voted to build a memorial to O’Kelly on the campus of Elon College. Originally the monument included an urn as the centerpiece. Although it was common for students to steal the urn as a prank, it was typically put back within weeks, but someone must have been reckless in their prank and dropped the urn. In the 1940’s, the urn was stolen and found broken next to a dumpster. In 1966-67, the urn was replaced with a copper cross, firmly secured to the monument.