Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02

years to the time when his good
mother would curl his hair her
precious finger. dress him particularly nice
in his little trousers and plated white shirt
and of course, saw that his shoes were pol
ished to perfe ction-and started him of for
Sunday school, held in the Memorial Lutheran
Church, at Fourteenth and streets the pas
tor of which was that sterling divine, the Rev.
j. G. Butler, d. d.
There were no steeples on the Lutheran
Church then, and the statue of Martin Luther
had not been erected, and the neighborhood
bore little resemblance to its present condi-
tions.
The writer's parents then lived on w street.
to the north, and it was necessary for him
to pass the little frame Campbellite Church
which formerly stood on Vermont avenue just
north of N street. in order to get to his own
Sunday school, But it was in this way that he
became familiar with this modest structure
by passing it SO many times in his childhood
days
AS recalled, it was constructed much along
the lines of our early Washington frame
churches with wide boards stripped with mar
row lumber in order to seal the cracks. In
deed, there were quite number Of similar
churches around the city, especially the mis-
sions of the large congregations, and few
are still in existence.
The first church Of the Disciples of Christ,
or Christian Church, as 1t is sometimes called,
was founded in this city in 1884. This was
became . separate and distinct denomination
ITO James T. Barclay, M D., is given the
credit for starting the church in this CITY,
the first meeting being held at his residence
near the Navy Yard, and the accommodations
Of private homes seem to have sufiiced for
many years. In 1857 we find the congregation
meeting in Temperance Hall, at 914 street
northwest, picture Of which was printed in
The Star a few weeks ago. Nine years later
we find it stated that the Christian Church
meets in the Supreme Court Room, City Hall,
every Sunday at IL o'clock am" In its earlier
in the rotunda Of the Capitol, as other churches
are recorded as having done in the days when
this privilege was granted
DR.. Barclay, or Barkley-for the name
appears both ways-did not remain in WASH
ington long after establishing the church here,
but soon went into the field as a missionary,
and other preachers took up the local work,
one Of whom was the celebrated Alexander
Campbell himself
Mrs. Emma s. baltimore an early member
Of the congregation, informs the writer that the
clergyman attached to the church at the time
Of its removal was the Rev. o. A. Bartholomew,
who came here about 1868, and remained here
for three years, and it was In 1862 during his
term as pastor that the little church, formerly
q mission of the Mount Vernon NJ. z. Church,
South, and which stood at the northwest corner
of Ninth and M streets northwest, was removed
to the Vermont avenue site, now occupied by
the Vermont Avenue Christian Church. and
there dedicated on June 81 Of that year. The
corner stone Of the present building was laid
July 2, 1882, the first anniversary following the
shooting Of President Garfield
Incidentally, when the dedication Of this
church took place on January 20, 1854, 1t was
stated that the church was founded here IN