History

History of Methodism

This section of our history originally appeared in The Service of Worship and Consecration bulletin on Sunday October 20, 1963. This history was also printed in Kent Island News, a local newspaper, on Thursday, October 31, 1963.

Kent Island Methodism goes back to the late 1700’s when Freeborn Garretson preached on the island for the first time in August 1778, and speaks of finding a class already organized. Bishop Asbury and Bishop Coke both preached here in 1784.

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church on the southern part of the island was probably the mother church. No one seems to know just when it was built but it was standing in 1799, and there was no record of its existence in 1780 when some of the early pioneers listed all of the Methodist Churches on the Peninsula. Another new church was built by the Trinity Congregation about 1882, at a cost of $1200. Fire destroyed this building in 1923.

Another Methodist Episcopal Church, known as First Church or Brick Church stood in the town of Stevensville, probably the one mentioned in the Rev. Thomas Smith’s journal as standing in 1816. The church was remodeled in 1888 at a cost of $2,875. The Building Committee report to the Quarterly Conference of January 14, 1888, stated $1,712 had been received and paid out, and the trustees held subscriptions to the amount of $1,200. The Sunday School was very low the following summer and the reason was: "Because our children have to come so far and our little island is a resort for summer visitors who crowd the conveyances and prevent our scholars from coming."

Kingsley Methodist Episcopal Church was situated just south of the Village of Chester on Kent Island. The original parcel of land, 40 perches more or less, was granted to Kingsley Methodist Church by Hiram and Frances Gardner, February 10, 1868. A Building Committee reported to the Fourth Quarterly Conference of Kent Island Charge, January 29, 1887, that a new church, "Kingsley Methodist," was completed. The work at Kingsley continued to be a very effective and steady work according to the Quarterly Conference records, with class meetings being an essential help. One acre of land adjoining Kingsley Methodist Church was purchased on February 14, 1893 from B. Palmer Keating, Trustee for Hiram Gardner, for a cemetery.

Records indicate that there was a class meeting in Dominion in 1902. E.G. Hallman reports that a revival was held in a schoolhouse in a location called Devil’s Dominion. It was so far reaching and productive of good results that they changed the name to Dominion, leaving off the word Devil’s. In 1916 a group of men decided they would like to build a church. A plot of land was given by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Thomas, parents of Mrs. Wesley Coleman, and many others gave money. The church was completed and dedicated free of debt because everyone had given of his time, money, and talents.

In 1917, the Rev. George S. Thomas, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Stevensville saw the need for more adequate Sunday School facilities. Mr. Charles Downes donated property in Stevensville as a site for a new church. The Downes Memorial Methodist Church was built in 1918 to replace the old church, and this became a strong work for Methodism.

The Trinity Methodist Protestant Church was organized in 1864 and the Church was built in 1866. It was improved in 1896. Not much is recorded about this work but for 75 years it served a great religious need on the Island.

In 1939, three branches of Methodism—Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, Methodist Episcopal South—became The Methodist Church. At a joint meeting of the two existing churches in Stevensville, Downes M.E. and Trinity M.P., a decision was made to unite, taking the name Trinity Downes Methodist Church. They used the newest and largest building, the Downes Church.

Methodism continued to progress on Kent Island and growth compelled the Churches to think about added church and church school facilities. The Board of Missions in 1954 encouraged churches in close proximity to each other to merge into one unit. In 1956, Trinity Downes felt the need of enlarging their building, but, having a vision of growth, invited Kingsley and Dominion to share a united work with them in some capacity. Policy committees were set up to study the advantages of a united work for the advancement and development of Methodism on Kent Island. These committees reported that the Board of Church Extension would help in establishing a new church on the island. The year 1959 was an eventful year. The churches began their merge procedures and named the new united church Kent Island United Methodist Church. Seeing the great Christian spirit of progress on Kent Island, the Peninsula Conference Board of Missions purchased nine acres of ground in Harbor View, a site picked by the church members, at the price of $22,500. This site for the new church was dedicated on November 1, 1959. A Building Committee was also formed consisting of nine trustees and six Ex-officio members: Pastor, Lay Leader, Building Fund Treasurer, President of W.S.C.S., Chairman of Commission on Education, and Chairman of Commission on Worship. Each of these groups added three elected members. Mr. Stanley Lane was elected chairman.

In 1960, the merger was completed and the Church was incorporated. Mr. Hugh Giffin of Rosemont, Pennsylvania was engaged as the architect. After much planning the present design for a Church was accepted. A Building Fund Drive with Mr. Gordon Seward as Chairman, was conducted by Dr. Frank L. Hicks from the Division of National Missions. Cash and pledges for a 3-year period totaled $85,000. A loan was negotiated with the Division of National Missions, Tidewater Bank of Stevensville, and Centreville National Bank, for $135,000 at 5½% interest. Mrs. James F. White, Jr., was named Chairman of a Memorial Committee to cover the cost of Church furnishings. Mr. Giffin made detailed drawings and the ground breaking took place in August 1962. On September 25, 1962, a contract for $196,828 was signed with Charles E. Brohawn and Brothers of Cambridge. Construction started on September 26, 1962. At this time the Peninsula Conference Board of Missions gave the Kent Island Methodist Church a deed to the Harbor View property.

This section is excerpted from the Consecration Service and Laying of the Corner Stone for the Educational Building bulletin, September 11, 1977.

The Consecration Service on October 20, 1963 was conducted without a steeple on the church. It was erected in February 1964 to the joy of many people. However, this joy was dampened because Hugh Giffin (architect on the original building) died suddenly a few days prior to this. The work was completed by his assistant. Work continued on the building by men of the church installing heating units, sheet rock, and paint on the second floor. This enabled us to use classrooms upstairs within a few months after we opened the church.

On July 2, 1968, the church authorized a Building Committee to study plans for an educational building. A brochure entitled "What Now" was distributed in May 1969. The opinion of the majority of the members was that a new parsonage should take priority over anything else. On May 5, 1970, the church voted to accept the parsonage plans as submitted by the Building Committee and proceed to build. Mr. Royden Curlett was engaged to build the parsonage on a time and material basis. Our pastor, Roy B. Phillips, and his family moved into the new building in January 1971.

On March 20, 1973, the Building Committee organized to proceed with a study for the church educational addition. Three architects were interviewed and Norman Byar, an associate of A. Hensel Fink in Philadelphia was engaged. His fee was 8% of the building cost. When the first mortgage of $135,000 on the original building was completely paid in September 1973, the church took the budgeted monthly figure and deposited that in the Building Fund savings account for a new educational building. Norman Byar presented the first schematic drawings on November 20, 1973. On April 23, 1974, the church Charge Conference authorized the Building Committee to proceed with working drawings and preparation for construction. We also authorized the Finance Committee to proceed with plans for financing construction and the trustees were authorized to build a new parking lot. When the working drawings were completed in October 1974, there were still insufficient funds to proceed with the construction. However, the parking lot and some new sidewalks were completed.

By November 1975, the last payment on the second, third, and fourth mortgages on the original building had been paid. In January 1976 with some money in the Building Fund and the new parking lot completed, the church decided to pursue negotiations for a loan. On March 4, 1976 the congregation authorized the trustees to borrow as much as $381,000 from Equitable Trust Company who had agreed to lend the money to us at the interest rate of 8¼%. On July 20, 1976, the Charge Conference voted to authorize the trustees to execute a contract with Charles E. Brohawn & Brothers, Inc. for $313,400 and to negotiate a 15-year mortgage with Equitable Trust Co. to build a classroom building. First stakes for the new building were driven on August 39, 1976.

We finished paying for the parsonage and with the Church debt free we dedicated them on October 24, 1976.

Board of Trustees at the time of construction of the new educational building in 1976 were:

Wm. O. Aaron, Sr. Wm. E. Lane, Sr.

Floyd Butler John Legg, Secretary

Charles Chance Ernest Porter

William Crouch Orem Thompson

James Hutchison

Rev. Ken Valentine wrote this section for the celebration of Legacy Sunday on September 19, 1999.

The 20^th anniversary of the Church took place Sunday, October 23, 1983. A history of the church was put together and given to all those who wanted one.

The 25^th Anniversary in 1988 was celebrated with the purchase of 1,000 New Testament Bibles. Mrs. Elizabeth Bukowski’s artwork of the three churches that united to become one were featured on the back cover of the bible. The full-size artwork hangs on the entrance door of the Educational Building closest to the large oak tree.

Our 30^th Anniversary was a celebration of our church’s heritage. "In Remembrance" tables containing past articles and memorabilia were on display for he entire month of October.

Kent Island United Methodist Church was continuing its steady growth in new members. When the Education Building was built in 1976, we had a membership of 620. In 1986, the church membership had grown to 1,119. Our 1999 figure is 1,502 members.

With the continued growth of the Church, more staff was added. Herman Lipsius joined the staff as a Student Associate in 1984, followed by Roland Alt in 1985.

On July 1988, Rev. Sandra Steiner Ball joined our ranks as an associate pastor. Sandra’s husband, Rev. Barry Steiner Ball, was the Pastor of the Queen Anne-Wye Mills Charge.

When Rev. James Miller was appointed associate pastor in 1993, Kent Island United Methodist Church knew the time had come to build or buy a new parsonage.

We were not successful in a search to buy a parsonage, so a decision was made to build a second parsonage on the Church property. Facing Cecil Dr., it was located in close proximity to the existing parsonage. A building committee consisting of Gil Hoffman (project leader), Karla Laramore, and Lou Johnson was formed. A campaign was conducted and we received $60,000 in pledges. The trustees borrowed $99,000 from Queenstown Bank at a rate of 2 points above prime, which ranged from 6¼% to 8¾%, making the final cost of the parsonage $159,000. The ground breaking took place on July 22, 1993. Moving in day was January 20, 1994 with the official dedication held on September 18, 1994. The mortgage on the second parsonage was paid off in December of 1997.

Bishop Peter Weaver was with us in May of 1998 as we burnt two mortgages, one for the second parsonage and the other was for the combined debt of the Educational Building and the parking lot.

As of 1999, the Church has no debts but we are looking at the possibility of new classrooms, offices, and a multi-purpose room.