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The
First World War was nearing its end when our history began in Cabin John
Park, Maryland. The desire for a Church in the community was so
great that a petition, with signatures from 36 people, was submitted in
the early 1920 to the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church for the establishment of a branch of that denomination in Cabin
John. The
Baltimore Conference established a United Methodist Episcopal Church in 1921.
Services were first held in
private homes in the community, notably the homes of Mr. & Mrs.
Charles Benson on Conduit Road; Mr. & Mrs. Washburn Davis on 76th
Street. The story was told that when Rev. Dennis Chandler (pastor
1951-1956) was shown the Davis home and told by Paul Connelly that the
Church really had its beginning in the living room there, he declared the
room sanctified ! Through fund raising efforts this property on 77th
& MacArthur Blvd. was purchased. They worshiped in a tent until funds
were raised to build a one room building where worship services and Sunday
school classes were held.
In the fall of 1921 the building (Paul Connelly Hall) was
completed. A 15 feet addition was added to that building in 1944.
This added 3 classrooms and kitchen in the basement. The parsonage was
completed in Sept 1949.
With a Loan of $30,000 in 1958 the church building was completed and
became the Christ Methodist Church. The first service was held in the new
sanctuary on March 15, 1959.
We merged with the Evangelical United Brethern Church in 1968 and the name
of the Church was changed to Cabin John United Methodist Church. Our
Church took part in community activities and had fund raisers, such as
rummage sales, turkey dinners, soup and salad dinners, bake sales,
strawberry socials, Christmas bazaars and arts & craft show to name a
few.
In 1996 we merged with the Chinese Church from Chevy Chase and the name
now is Cabin John American-Chinese United Methodist Church.
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