On May 28, 1853 John Weaver and his wife Elizabeth transferred lot #10 on Main Street in Middletown to Mr. Herring, Mr. Bowlus, and Mr. Herbert, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church for $1200.00. This land was purchased so that "they may erect and build, or caused to be erected and built thereon a house or place of worship for the use of members of the Methodist Episcopal Church." This new church which still stands on West Main Street was known as Wesley Chapel. In 1858 the Methodist church of Middletown and the Methodist Church of Jefferson joined to form a new circuit with the Rev. John Anderson as the first pastor. Prior to this time the Middletown Church was part of the Frederick circuit.
On August 25, 1868 Mr. Lewis Cookerly and his wife Ann Louise sold the east half of lot #12 to the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Middletown for $1475.00 to be used as the parsonage. This building, now #215 West Main Street, was used by the various pastors of the church. According to Mr. Rhoderick, the congregation flourished for many years and grew into a major congregation among Middletown's other churches. Its annual Christmas services were outstanding community events, attracting overflow crowds from a wide expanse of territory hereabout. Each Sabbath sextant George Keller, who lived in the house immediately west of the Lutheran cemetery, rang the bell for the faithful. However, around the turn of the century the congregation started to decline and the support of a resident pastor could no longer be maintained. Mr. Rhoderick believes that this decline was due to the lack of young people to carry on its work. The trustees continued to hold the parsonage property and rented it to various individuals.

Apparently the church building on Main Street stood idle for several years at the beginning of the new century and was then used as a library and later as an emergency school following the destruction by fire of the schoolhouse. The building was sold by the church trustees on September 30, 1919. The parsonage had been sold three months earlier on June 26th for $1150.00.
     In 1928 the last remaining property of the Methodist Church trustees was sold. At this time the Lutheran church on Main Street was enlarging its facilities with the addition of a new Sunday School Chapel. In order to accomplish this they had to move the existing cemetery that lay directly behind the church building. Apparently at this time the trustees of the now closed Methodist Church sold the North Commons Cemetery to the Lutheran Church. All the remains in the original Lutheran cemetery were then disinterred and moved to the North Commons cemetery adjoining the cemetery of the Methodist Church. The old gravestones were all placed together along the north wall of the cemetery and can still be seen today. It is not known if the Methodist congregation, or portions of it, continued to meet after the demise of the Main Street church. They may have rejoined the United Brethren congregation.

Main Street, United Brethren "Otterbein Chapel" (1883-1976)

In 1883 it was apparent that the old Martin Box structure was no longer meeting the needs of the United Brethren Church. In this year the present "neat and substantial" building at the corner of Church and Main Streets was erected in the center of town and named Otterbein Chapel. The deed to the property notes "that in consideration for the sum of $267.00 Edward Bowlus and his wife Mary did grant all that parcel of land fronting on Main Street in Middletown to the trustees of the United Brethren church.” The new chapel was dedicated on October 7, 1883. In 1936 the church was completely renovated at a cost of $800.00.

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Questions about Middletown United Methodist Church should be sent to the Church Office.

7108 Fern Circle · Middletown, MD 21769
voice: (301) 371-5550 · fax: (301) 473-8090
TTY: (301) 473-9892