The Washington Street United Methodist Church is a historic church at 1401 Washington Street in Columbia, South Carolina.
It was built in 1872 and added to the National Register in 1970.
History
On December 15, 1803 John Harper and a small number of Methodists in Columbia decided to build a church on the corner of Washington and Marion streets. The following year, a church building was erected and congregations have been worshiping at the site ever since.
The first building was a plain wooden structure, which was completed in 1804. That building stood where the present sanctuary stands today. It was the first church building to be constructed in Columbia. Because several Methodist churches have sprung from its founding, Washington Street has been called the “Mother Church” of Methodism in Columbia. The Reverend John Harper, the founder of the church, was ordained by John Wesley, and Bishop Francis Asbury visited and shepherded the young congregation until his death in 1815.
A young William Capers was appointed pastor of Washington Street Church in 1818 and was reappointed to Washington Street Church in 1831, 1835, and 1846 and was consecrated bishop in 1846. In 1829 at the urging of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a prominent planter, Capers founded the Methodist Episcopal Church's mission to slaves and served as the mission's first superintendent. He was one of four Washington Street pastors to become a bishop. He lies buried beneath the altar of the sanctuary.
Twenty-seven years after the first small church was built, a wave of religious enthusiasm dictated the need for a larger building to accommodate the crowds attending services. The cornerstone for a substantial brick building was laid at the same site as the previous smaller church on June 14, 1831. That building was destroyed by fire on February 17–18, 1865, when the troops of General William T. Sherman captured and burned Columbia. According to legend, the Union troops were looking for the First Baptist Church, original site of the secession convention, and were directed to Washington Street Church by the Baptist sexton. A small, temporary church with a seating capacity of 400 was constructed in 1866 from brick salvaged from the burned church.
The Reverend William Martin, who once served as a pastor of Washington Street Church and whose family played an important role in the city of Columbia during and after the Civil War, traveled throughout the South and in the North as far as Philadelphia, New York, and Buffalo, telling Washington Street's story and soliciting funds for its rebuilding. The fourth and current building, constructed from a Gothic Revival design was dedicated on June 20, 1875.
Architecture
A stained-glass window with a cross and crown motif is a memorial to the Reverend William Martin. That window was placed in an alcove high above the pulpit in 1900. Another window portraying Christ in the Temple is located in the Leavitt Choir Room, formerly part of the 1901 Sunday school building. Windows depicting the life of Christ with no human figures line the walls of the sanctuary. These windows were dedicated on Easter Sunday 1914.
Music for services is provided by a E.M. Skinner organ located in the choir loft. This instrument was obtained through the efforts of D.A. Pressley, long-time organist and director of music. The organ was completed in February 1922.
A Sunday school building was added in 1928. The 1959 addition includes Christ Chapel, Threatt Fellowship Hall, and a kitchen. Christ Chapel was dedicated during Holy Week of 1960. The windows of Christ Chapel depict the life of Christ, his humanity and his divinity. The Rose Window on the back wall contains the “I am” sayings from the Book of John. Panels by Jean McWhorter depict the church year. The Christ Chapel courtyard was dedicated in 1998. The courtyard contains several plantings: variegated elaeagnus from John Wesley's London Chapel, ivy from the Wesley parsonage at Epworth, and ten miniature boxwoods from the original stock planted at George Washington's home at Mount Vernon in 1798.