Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05
Church to Be Opened With Appro-
pirate Exercises.
HISTORY OF The ~a:EDIFICE
Built Up From Small Beginning
by Hard Work.
THE PRES ENT BUILDING

Tomorrow will be day Of rejoicing to
all colcrcd Methodists I'm this city, for at
Ii O'Clock in the morning the Miles Tab
ernacle c. NJ. E. Church will be formal
ly reopened by special services. appropriate
to the occasion. The hopes CT the con-
gregation and the labors of the pastor will
then have received a reward commensu-
rate with an undertaking that gives TO
Washington one of it's largest colored
churches.
The pre- gram Of reopening and dedication
embraces a period of. eleven. days begin
ming with Sunday, January 6, and contin-
uing until the 10th. inclusive, during which
time services will be held daily in the
practically new edifice Bishop X. =. Will
liams of the A. NJ. e. Church will deliver
the reopening sermon, and the Miles Tab
ernacle choir will furnish selected music,
while in the afternoon ct 3 o'clock, Rev.
w. Bishop johnson. pastor of the Second
Baptist Church, will make the address
and the choir of his church will render the
music. The day viii close by another
service at 100 in the evening. at which
F. Nj. Hamilton of this city will preach
the sermon.
During tie Week.
Monday evening, at the same hour as on
Sunday, Rev. s. b. Wallace. NJ D.. pastor
of Israel Metropolitan c. NJ. f. Church,
will have charge of the exercises, and will
be assisted by music from Israel choir.
Rev. Il. A. Fisher. d. d., of John Wesley
A. NJ. E. Zion Church, takes Rev. Wal
lacc's place on Tuesday, and on Wednes-
day Rev. w. II. Brooks, d. D., pastor Of
the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, per-
forms the same service. On the former
hymns will be sung by John
Wesley A. NJ. E. T.. choir, and On the lat
ter by the Nineteenth Street choir. Thurs
day and Friday of the same week sermons
will lie delivered by Revs. F. H. Hill of
aGhuEcb land j. p. Washing
ton Of Lane Chapel, the music to be in
charge of the cfoirs off, the respective
churches. go. .--.
With appropriate ceremonies on the fol-
lowing Sunday the church will be dedicated
at IL o'clock in the morning. and Bishop
Williams will preach the sermon of dedica-
ton. Other. exercises will be given in the
afternoon and evening of the same day.
and will he directed by Revs Wallace and
G. G. Jones of Hillsdale. The services of
Monday and Tuesday of the week after
will occur in the evening, and the preach
ing is to be by Rev.rW: r. Gibbons. Phi. D.,
Of Mt Carmel Church and Rev. ]. d. Daley,
pastor Of the Peoples Congregational
Church, with music rendered by their re-
spective choirs, The final service will take
place Wednesday evening. the 10th, and
is to consist of preaching by Rev. A. Dem
mis-, hymns by EbeneZer choir and a pre-
senta ton to be made by the organizations
of the church. The services and music
have been so arranged as to be of interest
to all coIored church-goers in Washington
and will no doubt attract large audiences.
A committee was appointed some time
ago to make all necessary arrangements,
and is as follows: w. H. Gardner, chair
man; Mamie Barton, Thos. Bell Susan Bell
Walter Glover Catherine Washington, ].
Blanheim, Cary Gardner, Emma Brent,
Alice HILLARY, VIII. III Smith, Fannie
Brooks. G. H. Woods, Josephine Cary and
George Washington.
rSketeh Of the Chureh.
On the Sd Of September. 1888, Rev. W. F.
Simons organized a congregation among
the people in the neigborhood of Sd and l.
streets northwest, and secured the use of
an old school building, which stood on the
site of the present. church, west side of Sd
street between L and Nj northwest. as a
place OF worship. The building was of
wood and had only one hoors measuring 20
by 10. The organization was effected with
about sixty-two, members. Notwithstand-
ing numerous difficulties, LiCentiate SIM
ons, in his two years of pastOrate, built up
his small charge we'll and was during that
period regularly ordained as a minister and
to the, Methodist conference. Rev.
G. l.. Davis was made pastor in 1885, and
during his single year of incumbency built
up the congregation from a membership of
ninety-eight to III.
Several Pastors.
Rev. Mr.. Davis was succeeded by Rev. H.
w Madison, who came in 1886 and stayed
two years. The next pastor was Rev. j. w.
Luckstt. who was Installed in 1880, and in
the course of his four years regime ac-
complished more than any minister the
church has yet had excepting the present
one, Rev. J, G. Martin. Realizing that the
of the church had grown
rapidly from, 1882 to 1883, and perceiving it's
ir adequate religious facilities, Mr.. Luckett
determined TO tear down the old structure
and build an entirely new church, one large
enough for years to come. The late Bishop
Miles. then senior bishop OF the a. Nj. r.
Church, was much in favor of the project,
and in consequence orthe moral and mon
etary assistance he gave it the church was
called the Miles Tabernacle Church.
Present Church.
The general home missionary board of
the a. NJ. E. Church purchased the lot on
which the present ediice stands in 1887, and
on the 18th of August, 1880, the corner
stone was laid, under the auspices Of the
Masons, with elaborate exercises. Only the
brick work was completed, and since then
the congregation has been worshipins IN
the basement. In 1S92 Rev. Mr. Luckett
was transferred to the Kentucky confer
ence and soon afterward Rev. j. e. Martin
2cCeUteu call 10 the vacant SeTN-
ing from that time unil this. The first Ofii-
.ial step taken to finish the church was by
an order of the general conference OF the
Methodist Episcopal Church. colored, pass
ed in it's sessions, last May, at Memphis.
BY this resolution the pastor was directed
to begin, as soon as possible, work or the
budding and the conference pledged itself
to assist in paying off the outstanding
debt then amounting to $4,000. Another
claus, of this resolution directed the chang
irg of the name Miles Tabernacle to that
of Miles Memorial, tine church to stand as
a monument to the energy of Bishop w. II.
Miles
The structure stands on the west side of
ed street northwest, between l. and Nj,
and Is built of red brick, though in 40 par
ticular style of architecture. The altera-
lions and additions were begun last fall
and have cost fully eight thousand dol
lars. In it's present state the most no.
ticeable feature of the exterior of the edi-
flee is a tower, fifty feet in height, pro-
iecting out from the center of the front
face. five feet, and reaching to the apex
of the roof Surmounting the tower is
steeple thirty feet high, which has been
reslated and contains in its belfry hand
some new bell. From the northeast and
southeast corners project wings, IL by
ii feet, and with these exceptions the
church is oblong in shape. Entrance is
had by a large double do IT in the base of
the tower and by single doors in each of