The North East Methodist Church in 1903, before the fire.

The charred remains of the church after the 1911 fire.

The church parsonage before the 1911 fire destroyed it.

The North East Methodist Church in 1903, before the fire.

The charred remains of the church after the 1911 fire.

The church parsonage before the 1911 fire destroyed it.

People of the Methodist faith have lived in the town of North East since the 1700s. The North East Methodist Church’s website states that the “first public record of Methodists in North East was on October 25, 1794 when a deed of one acre of land from Jacob Jones to William Howell, John George, David Sweazey, Jacob Jones, John Ford, Robert Hart, and Sam Aldridge in trust for the society of religious people called Methodists”. This piece of land was on high ground, where the brick building sits in the church’s cemetery. The price of the land was 10 pounds.

The congregation grew, and in 1836 they decided to purchase a new site on South Main Street and build a larger church. This building was added to three more times, until in 1902, the members of the church decided to build a new building. In 1903, the new building was dedicated.

On the night of May 7, 1911, Reverend J.P. Otis, the pastor of the church was awakened at three o’clock am by the roaring and crackling of flames. Looking out his window, he could see an orange glow and flames coming from the house that adjoined the parsonage. He immediately ran out of the parsonage in his night clothes, yelling “Fire! Fire!”, rousing the residents next door, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kenney and their son. The Kenneys escaped safely, but lost all of their belongings, except for their night clothes.

Rev. Otis ran back to the parsonage and he and his wife tried to retrieve some of their belongings. According to the May 13, 1911 edition of the Cecil Whig, they were able to save some books and pieces of small furniture. Rev. and Mrs. Otis lost their entire library, all of their clothing except the nightclothes they were wearing, and a 200-year-old family Bible.

The residents of the town quickly formed a bucket brigade as the flames spread northward. The parsonage was consumed with fire, and afterward spread to the roof of the church. Efforts to save the church were unsuccessful, but the furniture, pews, organ, piano, Bibles, hymnals, and the list of members were saved by the volunteers from around the church.

The Kenneys lost all of their belongings. Their house was owned by both the Kenneys and Mrs. T.C. McCracken. The McCracken side of the house was unoccupied and burned quickly. The flames spread farther north and the eaves and windows of the brick store and home of W.J. Cameron were damaged by fire. The bucket brigade was able to check the fire and save the building. A double dwelling owned by Miss Ida Thomas was also damaged by the fire, but only somewhat damaged.

Local authorities tried to wire Elkton, Havre de Grace, and Wilmington fire departments, but their apparatus would not have arrived in time to help the people of North East.

The church and parsonage would be rebuilt, according to the Cecil Whig. To help the church, the school board offered the congregation the use of the North East High School’s assembly room for their Sunday services.

The church’s board of trustees, including Rev. Otis, George Garey, Emory Lowe, C.T.F. Mearns, William Clark, John L. Moore, S.T. Simpers, and J.W. Arrison met after the fire and within a week made the decision to rebuild the church and parsonage. The church building would be rebuilt on its old site. The buildings were insured, but wouldn’t cover the total cost of replacement. Contributions arrived from other congregations in the area. Rev. Otis’s former church in Caroline County sent a check for $127, a church in Georgetown, DE contributed $20, and a collection of $72 was donated from several other churches.

In June, architect Henry R. Davis of Baltimore submitted a revised sketch of the floor plan of the proposed new church. The changes from the original layout of the church included a recess behind the pulpit to allow for the future purchase of a pipe organ, the choir loft was moved from the northwest corner of the sanctuary to the northeast corner of the sanctuary, and the Sunday School room would be located in a room east of the sanctuary with a movable partition. The new church would stand twenty-five feet from the Main Street sidewalk and ten feet from the Church Street sidewalk. The building would be supplied with steam heat and electrical lights.

All the memorial windows would be replaced. Those who had memorials in the old church will be given first preference as to the location for the new ones. About 60,000 whole old bricks would be cleaned and reused. Finally, melted parts of the old bell would be cast into paper weights and sold as souvenirs. The proceeds would be used to buy a new bell.

The October 14, 1911 issue of the Cecil Whig reported that the church’s corner stone had been laid. The church conducted a grand ceremony that included the choir, and church officials walking from the Grand Army Hall to the place where the cornerstone would be laid. Many donations for the church were donated on this occasion and anyone who contributed $1 could place their name inside the cornerstone before it was sealed.

Finally, in July 1912 the new church building was dedicated. The celebration consisted of all day worship services. The first service, at 9:00, was described as a “love feast” by the July 6, 1912 Cecil Whig. The service had preaching from Rev. W.A. Wise, a former pastor of the church. The 10:15 service featured preaching from Rev. John Krantz of New York. At 2:00 pm, a Sunday School rally was held, with the largest attendance ever known in North East Sunday School. That evening, at 7:15 pm, the dedicatory sermons were preached by District Superintendent E.L. Hoffecker and Rev. Krantz.

The historical society is open on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Our research library is open on the first Saturday of each month, from 10 am – 2 pm. Non-members pay $5 to use our library, while members can research for free.

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