Evening star., 1925-12-18
TWO EP|SCOPAL|AN
CHURCHES TOUN|TE
Incarnation to Hold Last
Services Christmas Day.
Merged With St. Stephens.

The church OF the Incarnation,
Twelfth and y streets. will he consol-
dated with the St Stephens Episcopal
Church, Fourteenth street near Co
lumbia road, the first Of the new year
and will hold its .1.st Sunday service
this week. The final service before
the doors of the historic old church
are closed will be held Christmas day
Decision to merge the two churches
was reached recently and the new or
.sauization will be known as the st.
Stepben s-Incarnation Parish, it has
been announced
By the plans of the merger the
Church of the Incarnation Will be sold
and the proceeds will be applied to the
building OF n chapel, to be named the
Incarnation, as a part of the new edi-
fee which st. stephens is TO build at
Newton ana Meridian streets. The In
carnations reredos, paintings and
carvings, windows and other memo
rials will be part of the new church.
Established SO Years Ago.
The service nj Incarnation Sunday
will be conducted at II o'clock by Rev.
George f. Dudley and on Christmas
morning, at 81 o'clock, Rev. II. G..
Goodman of st. Barnabas' Church,
Iceland, Md. will be in charge. The
concluding service at incarnation
Church on Christmas recalls the fact
that the first divine service held in
the church was on Christmas eve 5S
years ago. when Rev. r. w. LoWlis,
first rector. cffiCiated.
Incarnation Church, said TO be the
first in the old city limits built above
II street has carried on its parish
register names of many who have
been prominent in the civic life of
the community as well as personages
We'll known in official life. The beauty
of its paintings. carvings and stained
glass windows have given Il u diStinc-
ton which is widely known.
The religious atmosphere fthe lit
The religious atmosphere of the lit
doors opened as a mouse OF prayer
for strangers as we'll as parishioners
proved a strong factor in keeping its
congregation together through the
discoura cement of the gradual loss of
members who moved from this older
part of the city to other locations.
First Service in 1865.
The history of the parish dates
from June IS. 1865. when Rev.
Randolph w. Lowrie held the first
service OF new mission in Il rented
pullIlDE on VI street between Nl1lJH
and Tenth. Within two months after
the service, at which 13 persons We're
present, plans We're under way for
raising a building fund and in less
than a year the congregation had
grown to an average attendance of a.
Exactly one year after that first meet
Ing the corner stone Of the church was
laid. June IS, 1856. Or ground which
had been given by Mrs. Jane Farm
ham. whose family owned the whole
block of ground between NJ and y
and Eleventh and Twelfth streets. At
that time the city was sparsely settled
north of that spot, for cattle browsed
on the commons and briCkyardS
Ornamental the waste places. The
are in the busiest section of the city
today We're then built with fine resi-
denres, for the business section had
not yet encroached upon them.
AT the formal installation of Rev.
January 5, 1865, the keys of the
church We're turned over to the
pastor. After working III his phone,
field until April 8, 1871, Mr.. Lowrie re
signed. Rev. James r. Hubbard of
Warrenton, Va, who succe aded him,
filled the pastorate until 1874.
The same year the calling OF Rev.
Israel Leander Townsend brought TO
the parish a man of classical learn
ing and a theologiSt of high order.
During his % years of service the in
terror of the church was remodeled.
Eight stained-glaSS windows made
abroad We're given as memorials from