Guess the Landmark #1

Were you able to make the connection immediately?

WESTMINSTER UNITED METHODIST CHURCH at Main and Church Streets

This modern looking brick and concrete facade was a 1961 remodel of the original church which was erected on this site in 1869 by the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church.

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The M.E. Churches were the earliest expression of  Methodism in the U.S after a 1784 Baltimore Conference formally organized the church with election of a Bishop, Francis Asbury.  It rapidly become the (then) largest Protestant denomination as more English emigrants claiming to be “Methodists” rather than Anglican swelled the membership.

There was an eventual schism over the role of laity/bishops in the church and the Methodist Protestants emerged. At first those espousing differing ideas about church direction continued to worship together in Westminster, but eventually split and built separate churches. The Methodist Protestants were instrumental in the formation of Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) and building at that end of West Main Street.

Another schism occurred during the Civil War when the M.E. Church split over slavery and became Methodist Episcopal Church, South. (Episcopal Church of the Confederate States). However, by 1939 there was a reuniting of M.E. South, M.E. and the Methodist Protestants which then formed The Methodist Church.

Finally, in 1968, we see United Methodist Church, resulting from the merger of The Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren. And that is how and why “United Methodist Church” replaced “Centenary Episcopal Church” as seen on the marquee.