McKendree M.E. Church - North Centre Street

The McKendree Methodist Episcopal congregation, later known as the McKendree United Methodist Church, was established in 1854. Prior to that time congregants were seated in the balcony and worshiped at the Centre Street Methodist Episcopal Church. It was also in 1854 that the original McKendree site, a modern two-story brick structure, was purchased on North Centre Street in Cumberland. The membership at that time was about forty people. By 1878, McKendree had a Sunday School and a membership that had more than doubled to 90.

In the early 1960s the congregation decided to build a new church, and the old McKendree site was sold to the adjacent Centre Street United Methodist Church. In 1962 the congregation laid the cornerstone for its new site on Paca Street and this served McKendree for over forty years. On July 2, 2006 the congregation officially merged with the Potomac Park United Methodist Church and relocated to Potomac Park to form the McKendree United Methodist Church of Potomac Park.

"McKendree" takes its name from Bishop William McKendree. William McKendree was the first American-born bishop of the Methodist Church. A more detailed history of the McKendree church and congregation up through 1981 appears elsewhere on this website. According to A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Cumberland, Maryland from 1866-1920, published in 1920 and written by John H. Kuhlmann, the McKendree A.M.E. Church building was constructed in 1851-1852.