History of Cabin John

Our church was founded near the end of WWI in Cabin John, Maryland. The desire for a Church in the community was so great that a petition, with signatures from 36 people, was submitted in the early 1920s to the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the establishment of a branch of that denomination in Cabin John. The Baltimore Conference established a United Methodist Episcopal Church in 1921.

Services were first held in private homes in the community, notably the homes of Mr. & Mrs. Charles Benson on Conduit Road; Mr. & Mrs. Washburn Davis on 76th Street. The story was told that when Rev. Dennis Chandler (pastor 1951-1956) was shown the Davis home and told by Paul Connelly that the Church really had its beginning in the living room there, he declared the room sanctified !

Through fund raising efforts this property on 77th & MacArthur Blvd. was purchased. They worshiped in a tent until funds were raised to build a one room building where worship services and Sunday school classes were held.

In the fall of 1921 the building (Paul Connelly Hall) was completed. A 15 feet addition was added to that building in 1944. This added 3 classrooms and kitchen in the basement. The parsonage was completed in Sept 1949.

With a loan of $30,000 in 1958 the church building was completed and became the Christ Methodist Church. The first service was held in the new sanctuary on March 15, 1959.

We merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 and the name of the Church was changed to Cabin John United Methodist Church. Our Church took part in community activities and had fund raisers, such as rummage sales, turkey dinners, soup and salad dinners, bake sales, strawberry socials, Christmas bazaars and arts & craft show to name a few.

In 1996, we merged with the Chinese Church from Chevy Chase and the name now is Cabin John United Methodist Church.