Picture This: A Glimpse Into Catonsville's Storied Past

Now the Catonsville United Methodist Church, this corner stone-laying on June 20, 1924, was covered the previous day by the Baltimore Sun, which reported the ceremony would take place at 3 p.m. and was to be attended by the Rev. Dr. Frank G. Porter, then pastor of the Rognel Heights Methodist Episcopal Church and former pastor at Catonsville; the Rev. Dr. John A. Nesbitt of the Catonsville Presbyterian Church; the Rev. Dr. John C. Bowers of Salem Lutheran Church, Catonsville; and the Rev. Edward Cordell Powers, pastor of the Catonsville Methodist Episcopal Church at the time.             

The Rev. Dr. John R. Edwards, another former Catonsville pastor, was the keynote speaker due to his seniority – he was “former superintendent of the Washington district of the Baltimore Conference… [and] recently elected a secretary of the board of foreign missions.”

Jacob Ebert, master mason, laid the corner stone, assisted by members of the Palestine Lodge, No. 189. Judging from this panoramic image taken to mark the occasion, the event was filled with pomp and circumstance. 

It was a far cry from the church’s founding in 1855, when the Rev. C.B. Tippet, a church circuit rider who had nine other appointments, offered the first Methodist preaching to a dozen gathered in a log house on Frederick Road in Catonsville, according to a newspaper clipping about the Catonsville Methodist Episcopal Sunday School Building and Community House dedication in February 1925.

The new church—which includes a second-floor chapel, classrooms and social rooms—cost $155,000, and was designed in a “semi gothic” style by Walter M. Gieske, a Catonsville architect. It is constructed of granite from quarries at Woodstock, Md. To accommodate the building, the church acquired a lot on Melvin Ave. that had been owned by the Baltimore City Water Company.

“The community house is equipped to meet both the religious and recreational needs of the parish. The chapel on the second floor, seating 456 persons, is surrounded by classrooms for the Bible societies and older members of the Sunday-school,” stated the article. The first floor offers children’s classrooms and nursery services. In all, 20 rooms can accommodate 1,000 children.

“In the basement are an up-to-date, hotel-equipped kitchen, a gymnasium and social room, with stage for plays and a floor for dancing. There are two bowling alleys and shower baths for men and women.”

The 1920s were prosperous times and the committee in charge had grand ideas for a series of buildings. There was even mention of adding a swimming pool in the future.

Original architectural plans called for erecting a separate sanctuary on the Frederick Road side that would have replaced the parsonage and later building a parsonage on the north side of the building. However, when the Great Depression hit, those plans were abandoned.

By the 1950s, the church did gain an addition but not for a sanctuary or parsonage. Once again, more classrooms were needed for the growing congregation's growing number of children.

Thanks go to Bryce Rumbles, librarian at the Catonsville Branch, and Lisa Vicari, Catonsville Room volunteer and board member, Friends of the Catonsville Library, for their research assistance.