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In
1834 Thomas Jefferson had been
dead just eight years. Charlottesville was a town of about 1500
people largely confined to the area between First and Seventh
Streets (east and west) and Water and High Streets. In this
same year, the Methodists built a church on the south side of
Water Street between First and West Second Streets. |
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The
church, built by James Lobbin, was a brick structure with a
tower whose top reminded some of an upside down card table.
Unfortunately the one picture we have of the church does not
show the extreme top of the tower (right). The interior, including
a balcony in the rear, seated 350, and it had an extremely high
pulpit. |
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(This
may well have been the custom of the day. From the pulpit of
John Wesley's City Chapel in London, the preacher could almost
look eye to eye with those who sat in the balcony.)
It
was the general opinion in that day that musical instruments
did not belong in church, so there was no organ. |
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In
1859, twenty-five years after
they built the first church building, the Charlottesville Methodists
started building a second time. |
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If
we have some difficulty understanding why churches were not
built earlier in Charlottesville, we have even greater difficulty
understanding why this one was built so soon. One might suppose
that they built to accommodate the growing membership, but,
in fact, the church had only grown from 60 to 153 members. |
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Membership
would not approach the capacity of the church building (350)
for another twenty-five years.
Charlottesville,
itself, nearly doubled its population from 1835 to 1870 (the
first year we have an actual record) but was still no more
than a very small town. Church congregations have sometimes
been known to move to a better site. Those early Methodists
moved across the Street to what is now the southwest comer
of Water and West Second Streets, facing the site of their
first church.
With
the Rev. William E. Judkins as pastor, they started their
church in 1859. The corner stone was laid September 5, 1860,
with the Widow's Son's Lodge conducting Masonic ceremonies.
But they were unable to finish more than the basement, where
they worshipped until 1867. Then, with the Rev. Thomas A.
Ware as Pastor and G. W. Spooner, a member of the church,
as builder, the upper floor was completed at a cost of $3900.00.
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Twenty
years later
(c. 1879) the Methodists were building again. They
tore off the roof and built one with a much steeper
pitch; took out the windows and replaced them with
better ones; shoved out the rear wall and installed
their first pipe organ and a choir loft; and built
a tower on each of the front comers, one topped
by a high spire. Inside they built balconies on
three sides. The total result was a gothic style
church as impressive as any in the city. The work
was completed in 1888 with the Rev. William E. Edmunds
as pastor.
Charlottesville
doubled in size from 2600 in 1880 to 5500 in 1890.
Church membership gradually grew to 275 in 1882
and then almost doubled in five years. The first
recorded Sunday School enrollment (1867) was greater
than the church membership. Considering all these
circumstances the people were most likely proud
of their church and community and optimistic about
the future. So they remodeled the church.
They
continued to raise money and gave $600.00 toward
the building of a frame church erected in 1897
with 40 charter members. Thus First Methodist
Church had its first experience as the parent
of a new church. In fact, between 1897 and 1898,
First Methodist lost 134 members, presumably to
the new church, and all the trustees were originally
from the parent church. The church had a regularly
assigned pastor from its beginning. Twelve years
later, when it was able to rebuild at the corner
of Hinton Avenue and Church Street, it became
the Hinton Avenue Methodist Church. As
for First Methodist Church, by 1900 it had practically
renewed its membership from the loss in founding
a new church; it had increased its budget by almost
$2,000.00 (a sizable amount in those days).
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"Our hearts, our minds and
our doors are always open."
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First United Methodist Church
• 101 E. Jefferson Street • Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: (434) 296-6193 •Office hours: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Mon-Thurs, 9 a.m. - 12 noon Friday
The Rev. Harry G. Kennon, pastor
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