On May 20, 1905 all stores in Gaithersburg were closed for the laying of the cornerstone of the new Methodist Episcopal Church South, called Grace Methodist. The young ladies of Grace Church formed a fund-raising club for church improvement and were quite successful. The young ladies' efforts were memorialized in a large bronze bell at the top of the tower. The bell was so heavy that it took two teams of horses using a rope and pulley to set it up in the tower. The photo on the left was taken circa 1906. Archived Comments
Grace Methodist Church, then & now. Click here to view my photos from the bell tower.
Francis Cassatt Clopper built a church for his wife, Ann Jane Byrne, a Catholic. Constructed around 1836, the original church building was destroyed by a fire in 1883. It was immediately re-built and this is the church we see today. The cornerstone from the original 1836 church is still there. Saint Rose of Lima became a parish in 1972, approximately 160 years after Francis Clopper and his wife, Ann, came to the area. Archived Comments
Remnants of the old Quince Orchard community still remained into the mid-1970s, such as McDonald Chapel, formed around 1895 by the Howard and Mills families. Under the direction of Rev. William A. McDonald, it was located at the corner of Route 28 and Quince Orchard Road. This was one of many old frame churches lost to development during the late 1970's. The present building served as a local post office for many years until the Diamond Farms branch was built on Firstfield Road. Archived Comments
Pleasant View was begun by African American Methodists in 1868 when Thomas Neverson, George W. Johnson, and Charles Beander bought land and an old building on Darnestown Road. The Pleasant View church was not built until 1888. By 1914 the church was in such poor condition that it was demolished and rebuilt, and this is the church that stands today. Archived Comments
The area along Darnestown Road between Travilah and Muddy Branch Roads was once a small rural community known as Hunting Hill. The village included a blacksmith shop, two general stores, and a school house. Hunting Hill Methodist Episcopal Church was built here in 1902 and included around 50 members, among them the Schwartzbeck, Crown and Ward families. In 1965 Hunting Hill and McDonald Chapel Church merged and a few years later, the two merged with the black congregation of Pleasant View Church. Archived Comments
