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Who We Are |
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One way to speak about our church's rich heritage is by telling the story of
our historic buildings. The story began when the first German settlers came to
this area in the early 18th century and the Reformed and Lutheran congregations
constructed and shared a rustic church building in northern
Frederick County. When the city of Frederick was laid out in 1745, our
congregation was worshiping in the schoolhouse of John Thomas
Schley, the founder of Frederick and founder of our church, until a log
church was built facing West Patrick Street in 1748.
Trinity Chapel's 1807 colonial steeple, the oldest of the famed "clustered spires of Frederick," rests atop the original stone tower of our fourth house of worship, built in 1763. Housing the town clock (whose works from the 1790's now reside in the Smithsonian Institution), the steeple also holds the ten-bell Trinity Chimes, played weekly since 1893 to call the faithful to Sabbath worship. Once used as a Civil War hospital, Trinity Chapel was substantially rebuilt in 1881 and has been renovated in recent years to host our early service and most of our Christian Education classes. Kemp Hall at Market and East Church Streets stands on the spot of the first parsonage. Built in 1860 as a commercial property, Kemp Hall's place in history was etched on April 26, 1861, when the Maryland legislature met on the upper floors to act on the pressing issue of secession. St. John's German Reformed Church, begun in 1844 as a German-speaking offshoot of our congregation, worshiped variously in Kemp Hall and Trinity Chapel until it disbanded in 1907. Today Kemp Hall is managed by the congregation as a multi-use facility which combines space donated to non-profit organizations for meetings and offices with several commercial establishments and apartments.
The Parish House (formerly the parsonage) was connected to the west side of the church in 1979 and is now used to more adequately meet church and community needs. Over the years, our church facilities have been dedicated to the glory of God through service of God and neighbor. In these hallowed rooms we have worshiped and learned and shared fellowship with one another, and throughout a quarter of a millennium we have faithfully used these historic legacies as instruments of mission in the service of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, we pray that we may become even more faithful in mission in our next 250 years! |
The
1848 Church, built in the Greek Revival style on the site of an earlier
church schoolhouse, contains the large sanctuary where our main services are
held. Although designed as a "pulpit centered church" in the
Calvin-Zwingli tradition, changes in the chancel were made in 1891 after a
lengthy doctrinal struggle resulted in the prevailing "high church"
emphasis. It was here that Barbara Fritchie, the poet Whittier's Civil War
heroine, worshiped regularly and where the pews still display the numbered brass
plates from the days when "pew rent" supported the church's life.