| Stone Church, Rebuilt c. 1870 | |||||||||||||||
ANTIBELLUM |
| Local tradition asserts …that the first sermon preached to the Methodists at Centreville was in an upper room of a blacksmith shop run at the time by a Mr. Forsythe…[1] However, by October 1854 the members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South had erected a stone church on a small parcel of land
(0.16 ac) in The next year, the Ladies of the church held a fair to raise funds to pay for completing construction and furnishing the church.
| The Ladies connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, South, at Centreville, Fairfax county, Va., design holding a Fair in that village, to commence on the Fourth of July, proximo – the proceeds arising therefrom to be appropriated in completing and furnishing their new church.[3] CIVIL WAR |
| 
In 1861, following the skirmish at Blackburn’s Ford, the In 1864, General Gamble’s men pulled wagons up to the church and removed all of the woodwork, except the shingles, and hauled it to their camps for fuel and for use in constructing shanties. Included in the items that were removed were the floors, pews, doors, windows, pulpit, and gallery. Nothing was left except the stone walls. Courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division The church was demolished and rebuilt using the material from the old building. Reconstruction commenced around 1866, and was restored in a piecemeal fashion six to seven years after the war.[4] Information about the reconstruction of the church was noted in a court case instigated by church trustees to be compensated for the destruction of the church by Union troops. Prior to the war, land tax records valued the church building at $1,500. The 1866 tax record noted that the building had no value and was destroyed. Following are depositions from the case. 17 Sep 1907. John W. Mohler, 84, resident of Centreville. A shoemaker. Stated that he lived 50 steps from the church.
In the Spring of 1864 Gen. Gamble troops took the building. They
brought wagons there and took down all the wood-work except the shingles and
hauled it to their camps to build shanties as these soldiers told me. Q. Was
this building restored, and if so by whom? A. Yes. It was rebuilt some six or
seven years after the war…I know that in July 1861 it was used as a Hospital by
|
| Elparem Wrenfield:
…The
original church is not there now. A new church has been built from the material
in the old building. They commenced building the new Church sometime in 1866. |
| Thomas Taylor:
…I saw
Gen. Gamblis men in the fall of 1864 taking out the wood work in the building,
they removed the floors, pews, pulpit, gallery and in fact all of the wood work
about the building was removed – nothing left but the stone walls. Q. State if
you know when the building was restored. A. the work was done piecemeal. I
think they completed it about 1872. | POST-CIVIL WAR RECOVERY |
| In 1915, the Fairfax Herald reported that the M. E. Church, South of Centreville was to receive $650 for Civil War damage claims.[5] The funds were used to made repairs to the church.
| Repairs to the Methodist church made recently, include a new roof, new windows, a new floor, and the whole interior freshly decorated. The means for this work was provided by the indemnity received from the national government for the destruction of the church during the Civil war. A number of fine English ivies have been set out around the church and the lot is to be enlarged by moving the fence at the rear back twenty feet.[6] MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY |
| In June 1944, the church was granted zoning approval to build a front vestibule and Sunday school annex.[7] Over the years, additions of land were made to the church
lot. In 1916, C. J. Mohler and Ettie Lee Mohler, his wife, sold to the trustees
of the church 0.079 acres adjoining the church lot, making the total lot size
0.239 acres.[8] In 1954,
Robert R. Dye, widower, donated 0.2497 acres to the church lot (making the
total size 0.4887 acre, As a gift to the
…church in memory of my beloved wife, Alice Louise Dye who was a member of the
…church.[9] [1] [2] [3] [4] Record of Court of Claims,
Congressional Case #12427, Jan 1906
[5] [6] [7] [8] FX DB A8:364, 14 Jun 1916 [9] FX DB 1171:540, 29 Mar 1954 |
