Churches

Diverse congregations coming together as one
Potomac Park, McKendree will worship under same roof together as one

TAI SHADRICK
TIMES-NEWS STAFF WRITER

POTOMAC PARK — One is a small church not big enough to host services for all its members.

The other is a larger church struggling to recruit new members and retain its current population.

One is a predominately black congregation.

The other is predominantly white.

This photograph depicts the former McKendree United Methodist Church building on Paca Street. The McKendree Methodist Episcopal congregation, later known as the McKendree United Methodist Church, was established in 1854. It was also in 1854 that the original McKendree site, a modern two-story brick structure, was purchased on North Centre Street in Cumberland.

McKendree M.E. Church Construction, 1962

New Church Nears Completion

HISTORY OF MCKENDREE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Cumberland, Maryland
(as of 1981)

McKendree Church, Paca Street McKendree Church Notes Anniversary

The McKendree United Methodist Church, Paca Street, will celebrate its 127th anniversary beginning with the 9:30 a.m. service Sunday.

Guest speaker will be Bishop D. Frederick Wertz of the Baltimore Annual Conference. The choir will sing several selections.

Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. a covered-dish supper will be followed by an "old fashioned" hymn fest led the choir.

The cover of the 1928 anniversary program at McKendree United Methodist church.

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.

This article was reported under the "Local Affairs - Incidents and Events at Home and Nearby" column which routinely appeared in the Daily News of Cumberland, Maryland.

Local ties to the Underground Railroad

Teresa McMinn, Cumberland Times-News

Mystery, folklore and patchy records surround the reasons that Samuel Semmes and Samuel Denson ended up in Cumberland.

At face value, Semmes was a Confederate slave owner, while Denson had escaped bondage.

A closer look, however, suggests they might have shared a common goal.

Community can take pride in tunnels
Escaped slaves likely sought refuge beneath downtown church

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Fleeing slaves finding their way north likely found a resting place and a bit of food and drink beneath Emmanuel Parish of the Episcopal Church in Cumberland. The low-ceiling, often-narrow tunnels are all that remain of Fort Cumberland, and over the years, an abolitionist rector turned the tunnels into a stop on the Underground Railroad, the route that escaped slaves followed to freedom.