The morning times., 1895-09-25
ON A GRAND SCALE.


ON GRAND SCALE.
| DR.. Sunderland fayors the celebration on
the proposed grand scale and he spoke very
interestingly on the subject TO Times
reporter last night. In the talk he related
| the history OF the church in general way
| which will be found TO be interesting in view
OF the celebration and lsoas a chapter ofthe
ancient history OF the city
The nucleus of the present church on Four
| and-a-half street. at which the Rev. L
| Dewitt Talmage' viii be co-pastor, was
formed in a temporary building used by the
| carpenters who worked on the White House.
The corner stone of the White House was
laid in 1899 and it took ten yeaB to
complete it.
When the carpenters began their part
of the work they had their own quarters
and as well as can be ascertained they
formed a religious assembly of the Presby-
| terrain faith in November, 1795. Their
house as well as the White House was then
in the woods. This fact was humorously
impressed on the mind of Mrs. President
Adams, who in 1850 words wrote to her
sister from the White House that although
| they were in the middle of tn e woods she had
some difficulty in getting wood to do the
cooking. In those days also Mrs. Adams
used to have her clothes lines stretched
across the East room and on these were
occasionally display yed the Presidential.
male and female, garments to dry. 1t is
supposed that these primitive good people
also attended the carpenters church in the
| shop in the woods.
When the shop was torn down the con-
gregation used to worship in an old build
ing which was used as a school house
near the northeast corner of Tenth and
F streets After worshipping here for
| some time they moved into an old academy
which stood near the present site of the
Navy Yard.
NEXT IN THE CAPITOL.
Up to this time, said DR.. Sunderland.
/ the. church was what might be termed
| a wandering or ncmadic institution and
they were next heard of in the room of
the supreme court in the Capitol. This
room is now in the basement This
was all. of course, while the Capitol was
| in process of-erection.
The first communion services were
held IN the Capitol church. About this
time their pastor was the Rev. John
Breckenridge, possibly, he said, the orig
final way of spelling Breckenridge.
The remains of this pastor and his wife
are in a tomb at Harew wood, which was
part of the Corcoran estate, and now in
| Guided in the Old Soldiers Home grounds.
The interment was made probability on
small holding, which was bought by Mr..
Corcoran. The death of Mr.. Bracken-
ridge was about the year 1905.
| One of the prettiest of the chapters
| in the history of the church is that relating
to the Little White Chapel under the
| Hill This was the first building erected
by the congregation and was put up in
| 1909. This chapel was on the slope of
the hill, south, of the Capitol grounds and
west of the Butler building. 1t is said
that the building was not destroyed, but
was entonlbed in the gradual filling up
of the lands in that neighbOrhood.
At any rate, said DR.. Sunderland, If
| one were to dig down on the site of the
old building he would strike the old walls.
The story of this church was related to DR..
Sunderland by the daughter of the late
| John Whtwen She remembered, as
| child her father, herself, ard slave going
| out on the hill at sunset one evening and
her father digging the place for the corner
stone of the little white chapel under the
| hill
The congregation of this chapel subse-
| quently sold it to a-colored Methodist con-
gregation, and in 1928 nearly three
quarters of a century ago the foundations
| of the present Four-and-a-half Street
| Church were laid, one of the first pastors Of
| the new church being the Rev. William
Post. The original building vas the pres
| ent Sunday school room. In 1859 the
church was enlarged to its present proper
| tions.
HE BECAME THE PASTOR.
In 1853 Dr. Sunderland became the
pastor of the church. Most of the history
of the old church has been collected by DR..
Sunderland from people who were children
at the time of the events he relates.
Among those he mentioned as having
contributed to the traditions were the
Misses McKim, who once lived on Tenth
street, near Ford's Theater. Their father
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