The History Of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church And Mt. Zion . - WikiTree

Mt. Zion MethodistChurchand Cemetery 107 be 18,000. The Good Samaritan Society laid the cornerstone on the thirteenth of the same month. It was relaid by the Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons on May 10, 1880. Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson, a lifelong resident of Georgetown and a member of the church, who died in 1975, recalled on her 100th birthday on August 22, 1975, for WashingtonPost reporter Jacqueline Trescott, that she, her mother, and infant sister watched the ceremony from the corner of 29th street and Dumbarton Avenue.8 Two months after the cornerstone laying, on July 13, 1880, the Meeting House, where the congregation was still worshipping, burned to the ground. Books with charred pages, a silver chalice, and a few other items were saved by Sandy Bell, Richard Cornell, Maggie Thomas, and members who lived nearby. After the fire the members worshipped in the Good Samaritan Hall, and work on the new church was accelerated. When the official board met on March 15, 1880, the Reverend James D. Hall convinced the group that construction work "would cost only one half as much, if they would buy their own materials and have the work done on contract labor only."9They began work on July 6, 1880. The initial cost of labor and material was 6,100. He estimated that 6,000 would be required to complete the interior. Thomas W. Booth, the pastor in 1882, wrote, "We have sealed the 'basement' of the church, paved the alleys and now are at work on the galleries." He also reported that between 12,000 and 13,000 had been paid on the 16,000 estimated cost.10 Most of the work on the church was done by colored artisans including the next pastor, the Reverend Alexander Dennis, a Virginia carpenter, who supervised the workers, and his associate pastor Edgar Murphy. The former wrote in 1883, "We put in the galeries, vainscoted, lathed and plastered and frescoed the seiling nicely and put in the fernices and windows and also the Gas fictures."11The following year, he reported that the pews had been installed at the cost of 1,300 and a pulpit for 50. The altar had been carpeted. Everything was in perfect order for the dedication on July 15, 1884.12 The 1880s and 1890s were years of unusual growth for the church. The Evening Star in 1896 reported that Mt. Zion was one WashingtonPost, August 25, 1975, p. D-3. 9"1858- 1881 Historical Record ot Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, p. o. 10"1880-1894 Historical Record of Mt. Zion Episcopal Church, p. 1. 11Ibid., p. 2. 12Ibid., pp. 2-3.

108 Recordsof the ColumbiaHistorical Society Mt. Zion Church, interior. (Photo by Jack Boucher, courtesy Commissionof Fine Arts) of the most prosperous churches in Washington. A concert on Easter Sunday in April 1888 celebrated the installationof a new pipe organ. Church records show that the property value had increased to 20,000, the church was free of debt, and the membership had grown to about seven hundred. These factors,in addition to the 2,800 realized in 1893 from the sale of the lot where the Meeting House had been located, made possible a new church venture. The congregation decided to construct a home for its pastors. A lot at 29th and O streets (lot 815, square 1241) was purchased for 1,900 and a fund raising and planning committee called the Parsonage Building Society, headed by Rachel Hawkins, was formed. The building and its furnishings cost 3,100. This home at 2902 O Street N.W. was opened on April 12, 1897, for the Reverend E. V. Peck and his family.Valued at 5,000 in 1903, the property was clear of debt in October of the same year. With several renovations,it has been the residenceof all succeedingpastors. In 1905 a two-story addition was built on the rear end of the church. This accommodated a choir and organ loft, a kitchen, pastor'sstudy, toilets inside the church, a room for steam heating equipment,and other serviceareas. More internalrenovationswere

ML Zion MethodistChurchand Cemetery 109 made involving the rearrangement of rooms on the first level of the church in 1953 and 1959. Except for these changes and a few minor modifications for convenience and compliance with the fire code, Mt. Zion has remained the simple two-story structure with Gothic appearance described in detail by Daniel D. Reiff, architectural historian for the Commission of Fine Arts.13 Mt. Zion purchased in 1920 the building at 2906 O Street N.W., Georgetown (lot 815 [135] square 1241), adjacent to the parsonage, and designated it the Community House. It became a principal center for the social and religious life of the colored youths of Georgetown. It was a meeting place for Boy Scout Troop 510, Girl Scouts and other organizations, a lending library for good reading materials, and a place for recreational activities. Such activities at the community house were discontinued as the Negro population of Georgetown decreased. Plans for the renovation of the building are now being explored. Throughout its history Mt. Zion has been known for its involvement in raising the educational level of blacks. Mt. Zion, like other colored churches, became an educational center. Its Sabbath School was organized on April 16, 1823, with William Lang of the Montgomery Street Church as superintendent and William V. Gant, Thomas Mason, and Eli Nugent as the colored managers. An entry in the history of Dumbarton Church, referring to the school, says, "This school has now a large and prosperous membership. Its effect in promoting the moral and religious welfare of the colored citizens of Georgetown is incalculable." 14Adults as well as children came to the school to learn how to read and write. In the 1880s spelling books were used as a principal teaching device. The smaller children were taught the alphabet first, then spelling and reading. A black man, Joseph T. Mason, headed a school at Mt. Zion from 1840 until a year or two before the Civil War. Its enrollment at times exceeded 100 students, and the school "was known for the high standard of scholarship he maintained."15The Reverend William Hunter also ran a school there in 1860. The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association sent a Miss Chamberlain in 1864 to 13 Georgetown Architecture:Northwest Washington, District of Columbia, Historic American Buildings Survey Selections Number 10 (Washington: Commission of Fine Arts and Historic American Buildings Survey, 1970); p. 106. 14"Methodism in Georgetown, p. 37. 15MarciaM. Greenlee, "Historical Notes on Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, paper prepared for the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation (Washington, 1972).

110 Recordsof the ColumbiaHistorical Society establish a school. Later two other white teachers joined her, and the school reportedly flourished. The Board of Education of the District of Columbia sponsored a series of free lectures at Mt. Zion by prominent speakers on a variety of subjects for the intellectual benefit of the community. A daily vacation Bible School was established in 1922. Since the early 1970s the Georgetown Play School, an interracial group of preschoolers, has held classes there daily. In addition to education Mt. Zion's interest in the arts has been well known throughout the city. The church has sponsored three dramatic groups which presented religious and secular plays in churches throughout metropolitan Washington. Good music always has been a hallmark of the church. One of its earliest choir directors, a music teacher named Ralph Parrott, composed songs especially for the choir in 1896. Another director, Towsend Beason, and Mary Barnes, the organist, who served the church for forty-three and fifty years, respectively, presented classic religious anthems and cantatas, not only as a part of the worship services but also in concert. The tradition persists today, and people from all over the city and its suburbs still come to hear this music. Congressmen, judges, other high government officials, college presidents, other educators, and television and newspaper personnel have been heard by the Georgetown community and its guests through Mt. Zion's auspices. Among these speakers was the late Drew Pearson, one of the most influential newspaper columnists of his time, whose home was close to the church. The Washington Post reported, "This [Mt. Zion] is the church Drew regularly attended on Sundays. He went there much more frequently than he did the Quaker Church although he was a Quaker. He liked the service there, and he liked the blacks, and it was convenient. Drew Pearson's widow's first choice as a place for the funeral service . . . was Mt. Zion Methodist Church." 16It proved too small, however, to accommodate the expected attendance. Mt. Zion's history is based on carefully kept records. In recent years it has become of special interest to researchers, university professors, freelance writers, and students in the area. Because it has contributed significantly to the beauty and cultural heritage of the District of Columbia, in June 1974 Mt. Zion United Methodist Church was designated a category II Historic Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1975. David Israel, a WashingtonStar reporter, in an article entitled Post,September 3, 1969, p. A-22. Washington

ML Zion MethodistChurchand Cemetery 111 "We Survive Because This Is a Family Church" explains that Mt. Zion United Methodist Church stands as a sturdy reminder that this corner of Northwest Washington was not always the mecca of the chic and powerful.17 Mt. Zion's congregation is composed principally of a large number of old Georgetown families, many of which date back to the inception of the church. Only a few still reside there; most are scattered throughout the city and its suburbs. Nevertheless, they are proud of and grateful to their ancestors for founding and sustaining the church, and they have a strong desire to maintain its continuity. MT. ZION CEMETERY As the congregation of Mt. Zion Church grew in size and strength, it recognized the need of a burial place for its members. This need was fulfilled in 1879 when for the sum of one dollar it leased for ninety-nine years the Dumbarton Church Cemetery. This site, known as the Old Methodist Burying Ground, abuts on the west the Female Union Band Graveyard. Both cemeteries occupy approximately three acres of land behind townhouses and apartments in the 2500 and 2600 blocks of Q Street N.W. The cemeteries front on Mill Road and overlook Rock Creek Park in the rear. These two cemeteries - adjacent but separate- have become known jointly throughout the years as Mt. Zion Cemetery. The Female Union Band, a local cooperative benevolent association of black women, purchased its cemetery in October 1842 for the burial of free Blacks. The cemetery leased by Mt. Zion Church had been used since 1809 by the Montgomery Street Church for the interments of its members, their slaves, and free black members of the church. The trustees of this church received on October 21, 1809, forty-one dollars for lots at three dollars each to be used for the burial of Negroes. Unfortunately, the Dumbarton Church records relating to the early burials no longer exist,18 so there is no way of ascertaining the number of burials then, either black or white. The earliest grave marker is dated January 28, 1804. The oldest and most massive monument still standing near the highest point in the cemetery marks the graves of two white families, those of Richard Beck and William Doughty, active members of the Montgomery Street Church during its early history. John Foxhall, the son of 17 WashingtonStar, April 19, 1976, p. B-l. 18PaulE. Sluby, The Old MethodistBurying Ground (Washington, 1975), p. 22.

112 Recordsof the ColumbiaHistorical Society Mt. Zion Church communion stewardesses, ca. 1920. (CourtesyMt. Zion United MethodistChurch archives) Henry Foxhall, is interred there. The plot of the Eliason family is just inside the old gate. "Also near that section were several marble grave covers which sealed underground vaults. No doubt, the remains of many other unidentified white families still rest within them."19 With members of both Mt. Zion and the Montgomery Street Church buried there, the Old Methodist Burying Ground has the distinction of being a biracialcemetery of a biracialcongregation when segregation was the social pattern. Stories persist that German mercenaries were buried in a common grave. "One resident who lives in close proximityto the cemetery remembers that as late as 1967 there was a stone lying flat and engraved in German and that 'it was inside the old gate on the right."'20Several old Georgetown residents also recall that it was there. When Oak Hill Cemetery, located a short distance west of the Old Methodist Burying Ground, was founded in 1849, the latter 19Ibid. 20Ibid., pp. 14-15.

Mt. Zion MethodistChurchand Cemetery 113 suffered from disinterments by white families and disuse until Mt. Zion acquired the land under a ninety-nine-year lease agreement. Mt. Zion agreed to make all needed improvements, to respect and maintain all burial sites already occupied, and to care for the property. These stipulations were carefully adhered to for many years. Headstones and markers of various kinds, usually reflecting the economic status of the families of the deceased, identified the graves. Some plots were surrounded with iron pipes inlaid in cement pillars; others were enclosed with ornamental iron fencing. Roughly hewn wooden boards were reminders of the slave burials. The landscape was well attended by caretakers. Memorial Day was a time for families not only to decorate the graves but also to see old friends. Since burials were not limited to members of Mt. Zion, people throughout the city came to the cemetery. Children of the area sold water and flowers to decorate the graves and lemonade to quench the thirst of those who honored the dead. Many black leaders of Georgetown and metropolitan Washington are buried in these cemeteries. Among them are Mary Logan Jennings, a descendant of one of the founders of the Female Union Band Society; Clement Morgan, an honor graduate of Harvard University and a noted lawyer; George Beason, a fraternal leader and financial secretary of Mt. Zion Church; Joseph Logan, a principal of Shaw Junior High School; Charles Turner, sometimes referred to as the black mayor of Georgetown in those early days; Caleb Hawkins, a restaurant proprietor, officer of Mt. Zion, and real estate investor; businessmen including Simon Burnett, Robert Holmes, and John Ransom; Harriet Beason, a teacher and historian of Mt. Zion; Daniel Thompson, a member of the business faculty of Dunbar High School and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, an executive secretary of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA; musicians Charles Lee and Ralph Parrott; and Edgar Murphy, one of the builders of Mt. Zion. These few are typical of the many outstanding blacks interred there. Lack of funds for perpetual care caused the cemetery to become overgrown with underbrush and weeds, and to fall into general disrepair. Virtually abandoned, the cemetery attracted few visitors and burials. The last recorded ones were in 1950. The District of Columbia prohibited further interments in 1953 because the cemetery was not in compliance with Health Department regulations. This development coupled with the location of the cemetery soon came to the attention of real estate developers,

114 Recordsof the ColumbiaHistorical Society who considered the land an ideal site for high rise apartments and townhouses. Offers were made to purchase the land for such development. Some heirs of the members of the Female Union Band considered such offers attractive and were willing to sell their cemetery. To make possible the sale, they filed a petition in the U.S. District Court seeking the right to disinter the bodies and to bury them in other cemeteries having perpetual care. Their petition being unopposed, the Court granted it on August 10, 1964. On May 11, 1967, the Court appointed trustees to sell the property. Realizing that the land would bring a better price if it were rezoned for townhouses and high rise apartments rather than as it was currently zoned for single family homes, the trustees attempted for more than three years to obtain a change in zoning. However, they were unsuccessful and finally decided in 1973 to sell the land under present zoning status and executed a contract to sell at a price of 144,000 plus the cost of disinterments and reburials elsewhere. After the trustees filed for permission to sell the land in February 1974, Neville Waters, the son of Gertrude Waters, who was one of the Female Union Band members, was granted leave to intervene in opposition to the execution of the disinterment order of August 10, 1964. Two months later the Afro- American Bicentennial Corporation was also granted permission to intervene in opposition to the same order. The Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation (referred to hereafter as ABC) was established to stimulate and organize participation of blacks and other minorities in the two-hundredth anniversary of the nation's independence. In doing so, ABC aimed to develop programs that would assure the perpetual endurance of the contributions of blacks and other minorities to the American heritage. Having "heritage" as its theme, the corporation set as one of its primary objectives the restoration and preservation of Mt. Zion Cemetery.21 ABC and Neville Waters each filed petitions to set aside the court order of August 10, 1964, allowing disinterments, and to oppose the May 1967 order permitting the sale of land. These intervenors contended that "a recent inspection by the D.C. Health Department indicated that all that needed to be done to conform the 21Vincent deForest, Introductory Letter of the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation,Washington,D.C, 1974.

Mt. Zion MethodistChurchand Cemetery 115 cemetery to Health Department regulations was to cut back brush and weeds, set straight toppled tombstones, and fill in depressions that had appeared over certain grave sites. Furthermore, the interest of ABC and other groups in preserving this historically unique cemetery contrasted with the Society's inability to maintain the cemetery in the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, the intervenors suggested, there was a possibility that Mt. Zion Cemetery might be declared a national monument and thereby come under the perpetual care of the United States Department of the Interior."22 These developments pertaining to the cemetery caused the court to hold a hearing on December 9, 1974, to consider the cost and feasibility of restoring the cemetery. One of the witnesses for the intervenors was Capt. John S. Sullivan, president of the American Federation of Police. He testified that volunteers from his organization, assisted by the Police Boys' Club and other volunteer organizations, were cleaning the Mt. Zion section of the cemetery. The Federation was willing to extend this same service to the Female Union Band portion. Other witnesses for preservation and restoration who volunteered services included Charles Cassell, a local architect. He announced the D.C. Council of Black Architects' endorsement of ABC's proposal to preserve and restore the cemetery and offers of services from its members. Lester Collins, a retired professor and former chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University presented a proposal for restoring and converting the cemetery into a memorial park. In support of his proposal, he submitted several landscaping plans that could be implemented at a nominal fee with volunteer help. Another witness, Knox Tull, a

ML Zion Methodist Church and Cemetery 105 Women's Day at Mt. Zion Church, ca. 1917. (Courtesy Mt. Zion United Methodist Church archives) 68 shows a decline in church membership from 469 to 331. The words "gone," "escaped," "expelled," and "sold off" appear fre- quently after the names and explain the severance of these mem-