Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church | |
![]() | |
Location | 11 E. Main St., Grafton, WV |
---|---|
Coordinates | 39°20′26.64″N80°1′6.75″W / 39.3407333°N 80.0185417°W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | 1873 |
Architect | Phillips and Anderson |
Architectural style | Romanesque |
NRHP reference No. | 70000667 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 18, 1970 [1] |
Designated NHL | October 5, 1992 [2] |
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, the "mother church" of Mother's Day, was incorporated as the International Mother's Day Shrine on May 15, 1962, as a shrine to all mothers. [3] It is best known for being the place that Anna Jarvis conceived of the idea of Mother's Day. [4] The church is located along Main Street in downtown Grafton in Taylor County, West Virginia.
The church building is dedicated to Edward Gayer Andrews, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who presided over the dedication service on 16 March 1873. [5] The International Mother's Day Shrine was designated a National Historic Landmark October 5, 1992. [2] Its location is approximately one mile south of the junction of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 119. The shrine holds a Mother's Day liturgy annually and is open by appointment, as well as being available for wedding services and tour groups. [5]
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church is dedicated to Edward Gayer Andrews, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who presided over the dedication service on 16 March 1873. [5] In 1903, stained glass windows supplanted the plain glass windows installed when the church was constructed. [5] Christian sacred art by George Blaney that portrays the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane furnishes the chancel. [5]
Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church is most noted for holding the first official celebration of Mother's Day in 1908. Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, conceived the idea as a way to venerate "a mother's private service to her family." [6] This reflected Anna's desire to use Mother's Day as a sentimental way to remember her own mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, following her mother's death in 1905. [4] Following the original celebrations of Mother's Day in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jarvis' holiday quickly gained support across America. Jarvis campaigned for recognition of Mother's Day as an official holiday. Anna chose the second Sunday in May as the annual date for the holiday because, in 1908, it had marked the anniversary of her mother's death. The white carnation became a symbol of the day, and was selected by Jarvis to honor her mother's favorite flower. [7] The celebration also extended to many foreign countries within only a few years of its conception. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that flags be flown "on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." [8] The 1914 proclamation by Wilson represents a victory for Jarvis, since it recognized her holiday and mothers across America. The year 2014 represents the 100th anniversary of Wilson's proclamation and the official national recognition of Mother's Day as a holiday. The International Mother's Day Shrine in Grafton, West Virginia holds special commemorations and events in recognition of this anniversary.
The adoption of Mother's Day spread quickly internationally. By the third call for a Mother's Day celebration by Anna Jarvis in 1909, "forty-five states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico" participated with celebrations on the second Sunday in May. [9] The rapid adoption of Mother's day by other nations surprised Jarvis, who stated, "Where it will end must be left for the future to tell. That it will girdle the globe seems now certain." [9] Jarvis foresaw the international appeal of Mother's Day and believed the celebration and honor would be adopted around the globe. In May 1932, Mother's Day was even adopted in Japan, after 19 years of observance by Christians, showing the wide reach of Anna Jarvis and the embracement of Mother's Day internationally. [9] The international spread and adoption of Mother's Day creates a larger international connection for the Shrine.
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations, honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents' Day.
Grafton is a city in and the county seat of Taylor County, West Virginia, United States, along the Tygart Valley River. The population was 4,729 at the 2020 census. It originally developed as a junction point for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, serving numerous branches of a network that was vital to the regional coal industry.
Anna Maria Jarvis was the founder of Mother's Day in the United States. Her mother had frequently expressed a desire to establish such a holiday, and after her mother's death, Jarvis led the movement for the commemoration. However, as the years passed, Jarvis grew disenchanted with the growing commercialization of the observation and even attempted to have Mother's Day rescinded. She died in a sanitarium, her medical bills paid by people in the floral and greeting card industries.
Webster is an unincorporated community in Taylor County, West Virginia. It lies four miles south of Grafton. Its elevation is 1,019 feet above sea level.
Mothering Sunday is a day honouring mother churches, the church where one is baptised and becomes "a child of the church", celebrated since the Middle Ages in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries on the fourth Sunday in Lent. On Mothering Sunday, Christians have historically visited their mother church—the church in which they received the sacrament of baptism.
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.
The Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, located in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, and completed in 1929, is considered to be one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical Art Deco architecture in the United States, and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built by a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999. It has 15 floors.
Mother's Day is an annual holiday celebrated in the United States on the second Sunday in May. Mother's Day recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well as their positive contributions to their families and society. It was established by Anna Jarvis, with the first official Mother's Day celebrated through a service of worship at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908. Popular observances include holiday card and gift giving, churchgoing often accompanied by the distribution of carnations, and family dinners. In the United States, Mother's Day complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day and Grandparents Day.
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd was the daughter of American Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, and was responsible for the founding of Father's Day.
St. John's Church is an Episcopal church located at 2401 East Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Formed from several earlier parishes, St. John's is the oldest church in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1741 by William Randolph's son, Colonel Richard Randolph; the Church Hill district was named for it. It was the site of two important conventions in the period leading to the American Revolutionary War, and is famous as the location where American Founding Father Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech at the Second Virginia Convention, closing with the often-quoted demand, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" The church is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Capon Chapel, also historically known as Capon Baptist Chapel and Capon Chapel Church, is a mid-19th century United Methodist church located near to the town of Capon Bridge, West Virginia, in the United States. Capon Chapel is one of the oldest existing log churches in Hampshire County, along with Mount Bethel Church and Old Pine Church.
Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis was a social activist and community organizer during the American Civil War era. She is recognized as the mother who inspired Mother's Day and as a founder of Mother's Day movements, and her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis (1864–1948), is recognized as the founder of the Mother's Day holiday in the United States.
Kate Waller Barrett, née Katherine Harwood Waller, was a prominent Virginia physician, humanitarian, philanthropist, sociologist and social reformer, best known for her leadership of the National Florence Crittenton Mission, which she founded in 1895 with Charles Nelson Crittenton. Her causes included helping the "outcast woman, the mistreated prisoner, those lacking in educational and social opportunity, the voteless woman, and the disabled war veteran." Although comparatively little known today, she was "[o]ne of the most prominent women of her time".
Bardsdale United Methodist Church is a historic church located at 1498 Bardsdale Avenue in the unincorporated community of Bardsdale, California, in Ventura County. It is south of the Santa Clara River approximately 3 miles (5 km) from Fillmore.
Reedy Chapel A.M.E. Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church located at 2013 Broadway in Galveston, Texas. The church's congregation was founded in 1848 by enslaved African Americans and, following emancipation in 1865, the church was organized as Texas's first A.M.E. congregation in 1866. Reedy Chapel A.M.E. Church was one of locations of the public reading of General Order No. 3 by Union general Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 which officially declared emancipation in Texas. The annual celebration of this declaration among African Americans continues today as the Juneteenth holiday.
Grafton Downtown Commercial Historic District is a national historic district located at Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia. It encompasses 72 contributing buildings and two contributing structures. They include the business and commercial core of Grafton. Most of the buildings in the district date from 1890-1920 and are generally of brick or frame construction. Notable buildings include the Grafton Hotel and the B & O station, both built in 1911 and the Post Office built in 1913. Located in the district and separately listed is the Andrews Methodist Church.
Father's Day is an annual holiday honoring people's fathers and celebrating the fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. It was first proposed by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, in 1909. It is currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June.
Grace Golden Clayton has been credited as the first person to suggest a one-time memorial for fathers; which is believed to be the first recorded occasion celebrating Father's Day.