It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.[1] The Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church announced plans, in December 2018, to consolidate or sell roughly 10 churches in the greater Harrisburg area. In February 2021, newspapers reported that Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church would be sold "to a church off of the west coast that is buying it as a church for veterans," and that "a veterans' ministry" would be established at the historic church;[3] however, the realtor involved in the transaction reported a month later that the church was "back on the market" because the deal had fallen through. News accounts at the time noted that the realtor's most recent listing stated that the "15,852-square-foot property [was] listed for $155K," and that the church was] zoned 'commercial neighborhood,' which provides the possibility of a number of uses for the property."[4]
History
Following the formation, by eight Harrisburg residents, of a Methodist Society in February 1889, that society's leadership founded a Sunday school on May 12 of that same year, and began providing spiritual education to 50 participants on a regular basis at a room above the Rife's & Reese's grocery store on Woodbine Street. To accommodate a growing congregation, the Rev. J.S. Wilcox spearheaded efforts to build a new chapel. The cornerstone for that new building was laid on May 11, 1890, and the building, officially known as the Curtin Heights Episcopal Church, was dedicated in December 1891 on the site of the long since demolished Camp Curtin, a major Union Army training camp during the American Civil War.[5]
Two new wings were subsequently added to this chapel in 1893, but that expanded building lasted only a short time. Destroyed by fire on December 30, 1894, a new church was built by the congregation on the same site. Completed under the leadership of Dr. S. Fasick, its doors were open by July 1895; it was then formally dedicated on December 15 of that same year.[6]
The church's name was officially changed to Camp Curtin Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church by an amendment to the church's charter in September 1914. Later that same year, church leaders approved an expansion of the church, raised $38,000 in support of that effort, and rededicated the church as a memorial to all Civil War soldiers.[6]
Urged in 1915 by the church's pastor, Rev. Alvin S. Williams, to continue expanding the church to accommodate a growing congregation, $60,000 was raised,[7] and ground was broken on December 3, 1916 for a new sanctuary and auditorium with seating for 700.
C. Day Rudy's mural of Christ with an American Civil War soldier which was painted for the Camp Curtin M.E. Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ("Harrisburg Telegraph," May 27, 1916).
That same year (1915), a painting of Christ appearing to a dying soldier was commissioned by the church, and C. Day Rudy, a Civil War orphan, was chosen to create the allegorical work, which was dedicated on Memorial Day weekend that year (May 30, 1916). Rudy also then later crafted the stained glass Rose Window which has been preserved in the church's present-day sanctuary.[6] In June, congregants petitioned the Pennsylvania Legislature to erect a monument near the church memorializing the site of the church as the site of the historic Civil War-era training camp mentioned above. The petition read:[8]
"We, the undersigned, citizens of Harrisburg, Pa., the State of Pennsylvania to memorialize the Civil War recruiting camp, named in honor of the great War Governor, Camp Curtin, respectfully petition thee coming session of the State Legislature to procure the vacant plot of land located between Camp Curtin school building and the Camp Curtin Memorial Church on Sixth Street, Harrisburg, Pa., as a site for the erection of a worthy recognition in monument or if desired a statue.... We also ask the cooperation of all public officeholders of Harrisburg and Dauphin county and all patriotic societies and all political parties to help us in thus honoring the memory of our great War Governor and the 100,000 soldiers who, in the days of '61 and '65, went forth from old Camp Curtin to preserve the union."
That same year, beginning on December 3, 1916, and continuing for a week afterward, the church hosted as series of dedication events. On December 3, [t]hree of the biggest men in the Methodist Church world," Bishop W. F. McDowell of Washington, the Rev. Dr. John Krantz of New York City, and the church's district superintendent, the Rev. Dr. A. S. Fasick of Carlisle, officiated at the opening event with Fasick delivering the opening prayer and Krantz delivering the sermon during the morning service and afternoon Sunday school session, and McDowell and Krantz delivering addresses during the evening services.[9]
Then, on December 6, a group of Civil War Veterans, Sons of Union Veterans, and veterans of other wars attended a special patriotic service at the church, which was "held in connection with the dedication of the new $60,000 edifice erected as a monument to Camp Curtin of Civil War days where 300,000 men were mustered into the service of the Union." The service was conducted after the veterans had marched to the church together. Local Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) posts then presented an American flag to church leaders, followed by a presentation speech by Colonel H. C. Demming and an acceptance speech by David Cotterel. A formal address regarding the important role played by the recruitment and training camp during the war was then delivered to the audience by Professor Leon C. Prince, chair of the history department at Dickinson College. Following a performance by Estelle Butler of the Civil War-era song, "We Are Camping To-night," attendees dined on bean soup in the church's social room.[10]
The formal dedication then concluded on Sunday, December 10 with a sermon by Bishop William Burt.[11]
In 1917, the church hosted a performance by the Musical Art Society of Handel's Messiah in January,[12] and also held a series of programs for Rally Day in September.[13] Two years later, William R. Stonesifer was appointed as the church's organist and choir director.[14]
When the Methodist church's three branches were merged in 1939, the name of this church in Harrisburg was then officially changed to the Camp Curtin Memorial Methodist Church. Nearly thirty years later, when the Methodist church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church on April 23, 1969, the name was changed to Camp Curtin Memorial United Methodist Church. On June 25, 1989, this church then merged with Mitchell United Methodist to become the present-day Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church. The pastor as of 2019 is the Rev. John L. Kurtz.[6]
Architectural details
The Camp Curtin Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church is a masonry constructed building faced with buff Holmesburg granite over brick in a Late Victorian / Romanesque style. The main church building holds one of the largest pipe organs in Harrisburg; it was designed and installed in 1917 by the M. P. Moller company.[15]
The rear section of this church was built in 1895 as the congregation's primary place of worship. The cornerstone for a new, larger sanctuary was subsequently laid in the fall of 1915;[16] that section, which was attached to the church's front on Sixth Street, was completed in 1916, and featured a high tower and belfry with parapets and pinnacles.
In December 2018, the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church announced plans to consolidate or sell roughly 10 churches in the greater Harrisburg area. In February 2021, newspapers reported that Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church would be sold "to a church off of the west coast that is buying it as a church for veterans";[17] however, the realtor involved in the transaction then reported a month later that the church was "back on the market" because the deal had fallen through. News accounts noted that the realtor's most recent listing stated that the "15,852-square-foot property [was] listed for $155K," and that the church [was] zoned 'commercial neighborhood,' [providing] the possibility of a number of uses for the property."[18] From the time of its announcement, however, the Susquehanna Conference's plan to consolidate or sell the ten churches has met resistance from historic preservationists and members of the congregations of the church properties proposed for sale; according to a newspaper interview with Claude Phipps, chairman of the parish steering committee at the Derry Street United Methodist Church, "the conference has mismanaged the situation and has in the process given off the optics of racism."[19]
"These churches are trying to hold minority neighborhoods together.... You are kicking out the last pedestal just as the neighborhood is starting to be revitalized.... You have three churches in New Cumberland within three blocks of each other. Why aren’t you closing them?"
The "consolidation plan was rolled out by a West Shore-based management hierarchy and targeted East Shore churches," according to Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell preservation and restoration committee member Rhonda Mays," who added that "in its evaluation of her church the conference portrayed the historic parish as failing in ministry and outreach." Explaining that, although Camp Curtin Memorial's church service attendance averages roughly just 40 people each week, the church's "real impact is felt throughout the rest of the week across the community, which relies on the church’s vast network of social services," including health care services and a critically important soup kitchen.[20]
Added David Morrison, the executive director of Historic Harrisburg Association, Camp Curtain-Memorial Mitchell is "something of a landmark ... and its value in terms of heritage, tourism and education regarding the Civil War is significant."[20]
See also
Camp Curtin: Wikipedia page for the Union Army's American Civil War-era recruitment and training camp
Camp Curtin Fire Station: Wikipedia page for the historic fire station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger principal city of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area, also known as the Susquehanna Valley, which had a population of 591,712 in 2020 and is the fourth-most populous metro area in Pennsylvania. Harrisburg is situated on the east bank of the Susquehanna River and is located 83 miles (134 km) southwest of Allentown and 107 miles (172 km) northwest of Philadelphia.
Camp Hill is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. The population was 8,130 at the 2020 census. There are many large corporations based in nearby East Pennsboro Township and Wormleysburg that use the Camp Hill postal address, including the Harsco Corporation and until 2022 the Rite Aid Corporation.
The Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is an historic church and congregation which is located at 419 South 6th Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The congregation, founded in 1794, is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal congregation in the nation.
City Island is a mile-long island in the Susquehanna River between Harrisburg and Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is used mainly for leisure and sports activities. Its previous names have included Turkey Island, Maclay's Island, Forster's Island and Hargast Island. The island can be reached from either side of the Susquehanna River by Market Street Bridge or, from the Harrisburg side and by pedestrians and cyclists only, by Walnut Street Bridge.
Camp Curtin was a major Union Army training camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. It was located north of Pennsylvania's state capitol building on 80 acres of what had previously been land used by the Dauphin County Agricultural Fairgrounds.
Uptown is a section of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania located North of the Midtown and Downtown neighborhoods.
Camp Curtin is a historic neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's northern end, located in Uptown and named for the American Civil War camp of the same name. It is bordered currently by landmarks of Fifth Street to the west, the railroad tracks next to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex to the east, Maclay Street to the south, and Reels Lane to the North.
The Department of the Susquehanna was a military department created by the United States War Department during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Its goal was to protect the state capital and the southern portions of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to deny the Confederate army passage across the vital Susquehanna River.
The history of Harrisburg, the state capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, has played a key role in the development of the nation's industrial history from its origins as a trading outpost to the present. Harrisburg has played a critical role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. For part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeast.
During the American Civil War, Pennsylvania was the second largest state in the Union, and Harrisburg was the state's capital. Located at the intersection of important railroads, Harrisburg proved an important supply and logistics center for the dissemination and transportation of materiel for the Union Army. Tens of thousands of new recruits were mustered into service or drilled at a series of Harrisburg-area United States Army training camps, including the sprawling Camp Curtin. Confederate forces under Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell threatened Harrisburg during the June 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, but were instead called by General Robert E. Lee to return to Gettysburg campaign. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin ordered local workers to erect a series of forts and earthworks to protect the city, which then had a population of 13,000 residents.
The Dauphin County Veteran's Memorial Obelisk, sometimes called the Harrisburg Obelisk, is an Egyptian-style obelisk that was erected in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a tribute to Dauphin County’s Civil War soldiers. Designed by civil engineer E. Hudson Worrall, its planning, development and dedication phases were supervised by the Dauphin County Soldiers' Monument Association, which was formed by an act of the Pennsylvania General Assembly on January 30, 1867.
Estherton is an unincorporated area and neighborhood in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Harrisburg-Carlisle area. It is situated on the Susquehanna River, just north of the city of Harrisburg and above the Montrose Park neighborhood but below the Lucknow neighborhood within Susquehanna Township. Interstate 81 runs through the community to the George N. Wade Memorial Bridge.
This is a timeline of the major events in the history of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and vicinity.
The Camp Curtin Fire Station is a historic fire station located at Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and named for the Civil War camp of the same name. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and was decommissioned the year prior because it was no longer large enough to accommodate standard fire trucks.
Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, also known as Tindley Temple Methodist Episcopal Church and Calvary United Methodist Church, is a historic Methodist Episcopal church located in the Southwest Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1923 and 1928, and is a large masonry building influenced by the Beaux-Arts Romanesque and Art Deco styles.
The Quakertown Historic District is a historic district which includes most of Quakertown, Pennsylvania. It encompasses, 386 acres and 2,197 contributing buildings.
The Montrose Historic District is a national historic district located in Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The district encompasses 386 contributing buildings and two contributing sites in the central business district and surrounding residential areas of Montrose.
William Henry Egle (1830–1901) was a physician, author and historian who served as the State Librarian of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1889. A practicing physician at the dawn of the American Civil War, he was initially commissioned as an assistant surgeon, and then served as a surgeon with several different Union Army regiments during the course of the conflict, including the 116th Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (USCT).
Lincoln Cemetery was founded in November 1877 by the Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and is located at 201 South 30th Street in the Susquehanna Township area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Harriet McClintock Marshall was a conductor on the Underground Railroad whose home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania served as a stop or safe house for the clandestine network, along with the Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and other homes in the city. She offered shelter, food, and clothing to people escaping slavery.
↑ "Plan of Church to Be Built as Memorial to Old Camp Curtin" (illustration with caption) and "New Church Will Be Built on Camp Site: Two Hundred West Enders Read to Start Campaign to Raise $38,000." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Telegraph, April 14, 1915, front page.
↑ "Camp Curtin Memorial M.E. Church Is To Be Dedicated: Noted Methodist Leaders to Speak at Camp Curtin Memorial Dedication: Edifice Monument to Tented City of Fifty Years Ago Where So Many Got Their Suits of Blue, Harrisburg Telegraph.
↑ Camp Curtin M.E. Church, in "Harrisburg, PA." Musical Courier, Vol. 74, p. 51, February 1, 1917.
1 2 DeJesus, Ivey, "Racial rifts emerge amid plan to restructure Harrisburg’s United Methodist Church community," Penn Live and Patriot-News, April 25, 2019.
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