Charles
W. Baldwin Hall
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Charles
W Baldwin Hall History
A
Brief History of Severn Crossroads Foundation, Inc.
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Charles
W. Baldwin Hall History
Charles W. Baldwin Hall was built in 1861
as the Cross Roads Methodist Episcopal Church at the southwest corner of the
Severn Cross Roads (where the Stone Church, the present Baldwin Memorial United Methodist Church, was later erected in 1895-96). As the
second Church to stand on that site, the Hall replaced the earlier frame Church
of 1817 that had been erected jointly by the Protestant Episcopalians and the
Methodists, and which was moved to the Cecil (later the Childs) farm, near
Millersville Road and Cecil Avenue, when the Church of 1861 was built.
The Hall is heir to the even earlier
religious tradition of the Puritan settlers at the "Head of Severn"
community: for forty years prior to 1817, the Methodists had conducted
religious services in a room that was added by John Sewell to his ancient
residence, "Brooksbys Point" (still standing near present-day Door's
Corner), where, as early as 1777, Bishop Francis Asbury has preached, often
while sitting astride a desk or on a chest of drawers (still in existence)
which sat in that room, to which he was elevated when he was unable to stand,
because his body had stiffened with age and had become cramped from his long
rides on horseback as the "Prophet of the Long Road". Even earlier,
in 1730, a chapel for the use of the inhabitants of St. Anne's Parish west of Annapolis had been built nearby on Severn Chapel Road (at a location at the front of the
present-day Forney farm which is now marked with a stone Cross). Sometimes
called "Hammonds Chapel", this Chapel (officially called Severn
Chapel) fell into disuse and decay during and after the American Revolution.
Between 1817 and 1840, the two congregations worshipped amicably (on
alternating Sundays) in the first Cross Roads Church. In 1840, the Episcopalians erected St.
Stephens Church and withdrew from the Church at Severn Cross Roads, selling
their interests there (for $100.00) in 1861 to the Methodists, who has purchased,
in 1841, as the Severn Circuit parsonage, the former Gambrill home (nest to the
Church site), most of which still stands, having been moved about 1920 across
General's Highway to "Bunker Hill" farm (where it has been used ever
since as the resident farmer's dwelling).
The Sunday school at the Cross Roads was
organized on June 7, 1835, and first met in the 1817 Church. About
1840 or earlier, the Methodists erected a one-room (two-story) Sunday school
building which stood on "Bunker
Hill" farm
at the southwest corner of the Cross Roads. This school house was later moved
(about 1835) across General's Highway to a location on the northeast side of Indian Landing Road where it stood until about 1935. For
many years this little building served as a one-room elementary school house
for Millersville until the first Millersville consolidated school was built in
the early 1920s. About 1935, it was moved again, slightly east, t its final
location (where it stood until the Church demolished it in 1983), after it had served
for a number of years as a Church library. (A set of architectural drawings,
showing how the exterior and interior of this School House Building looked, was
completed in November, 1980, by Historic Annapolis, Inc. Together with a
technical written description of its architecture, both documents prepared by
Russell Wright, A.I.A., these writings are in existence and on file.)
The Hall - the Church of 1861 - was made
possible by William Henry Baldwin and Jane Maria (Woodward) Baldwin, his wife,
and their children - there were seven sons and two daughters - of "Bunker Hill", pillars at that time in the Cross Roads Church, which was a station of the Old Severn
(Methodist Episcopal) Circuit. At one time this circuit comprised ten or more
local churches, chapels, and/or preaching places served by one or two
circuit-riding clergymen. It included all of central and northern Anne Arundel County (outside of Annapolis) and at one time extended into what is
today Howard County. After 1838, the Cross Roads Methodist
Episcopal Church was the "home" for the main parsonage of the
Circuit.
The building of the Church of 1861 took
place during the period which included the First Battle of Bull Run, and its
construction was seen as a gesture of good will to a community then badly
divided over secession and slavery - issues which divided and diminished the
membership of the Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
during that period. In the Church of 1861, the sons of William H. and Jane
Maria Baldwin, successful and prominent in business and professional careers,
promised one another that they would never allow divisions brought about by the
Civil War to interfere with their family and Church ties. In 1866, one of these
sons, Charles Winterfield Baldwin, a recent graduate of Yale College, returned
to Severn Circuit and the Church of 1861 to begin seventy years as an ordained
Methodist minister, which brought him numerous honors and much recognition,
including (in 1935) the rededication (after it had been enlarged) of the 1861
Church as the "Charles W. Baldwin Hall and Church School Building".
The builder of the Church of 1861 was
William Jones, who was a member of the congregation. By the time the Hall was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places during March, 1983, it had
been described as a significant example of 19th century country church
architecture, a combination of the popular mid-nineteenth century
"carpenter gothic" detailing applied on an 18th century church plan.
The molded battens, tiny arches, louvered vent, shutters, and tall arched side
windows with clear glass on a rectangular block were described as creative and
well executed embellishment of this earlier form.
In 1881, the congregation of the Cross Roads Church voted unanimously to change the name of
the Church to "Baldwin Memorial", in memory of William H. and Jane
Maria Baldwin, who were then deceased. At that time, the Church became detached
from Old Severn Circuit, and the Reverend Lewis A. Thirlkield became the first
station pastor. In 1895, construction began on the present Stone Church after the Church of 1861 was first moved
across Indian
Landing Road
to the north side of land donated for that purpose by Mrs. N.J.B. Morgan (whose
husband has presided over the troubled fortunes of the Baltimore Annual
Conference during the Civil War), a sister of Dr. Charles W. Baldwin. From that
time until the present Summerfield Baldwin, Jr. Educational Building, fronting
on the General's Highway, was consecrated on September 20,
1970, the Church
of 1861 - served as a combination Church Sunday School
building, congregation hall, and community hall. Wedding receptions, Church
suppers, community meetings, and numerous plays and entertainments all took
place within its walls.
Between 1947 and about 1960 it served as
the resident theater for the South Shore Dramatic Club, Inc. Following its
disuse in the 1970s by the Church, the Hall was again used on a regular basis
for theatrical productions by the Severn Cross Roads Concert Theater, Inc.
On June 2, 1981, in the presence of a
large throng of community residents and descendants of families whose
forbearers had worshipped and attended Sunday School in it, and who had
participated in it first move in 1895 and in its enlargement in 1934-35, Charles
W. Baldwin Hall was safely and successfully moved by Severn Cross Roads
Foundation, Inc., across Old General's Highway to its new and final site at
this present location, where it now securely rests on a new and prepared
foundation - basement, standing proudly on a two acre site where once stood the
eighteenth century "Warfields Plains" home.
Of all of the various local churches and
chapels which were at one time connected to and used by the former Methodist
Episcopal denomination in the geographic area served by its old Severn Circuit,
it is believed that none are standing today which are older then this one
building: Charles W. Baldwin Hall.
The "War fields Plains" land
patent to Richard War field in 1681 included, in addition, the original
three-quarter acre site of all three of the Churches which were build at Severn Cross Roads, as well as "Bunker Hill" farm. The owner of the entire
tract in 1817, Thomas Williams Turner (a descendant of Richard Warfield), in
July of that year, from his ancient "Warfields Plains" house (which
stood at the front of this two acre residue until about 1961), presented the
Deed to the original Trustees for the Methodists and Episcopalians, John
Sewell, Matthias Hammond, and Augustine Gambrill, for the ¾ acre original Church
site. From about 1830 to 1840 (before the Millersville post office was created)
the old "Warfields Plains" home served as the post office for an area
at the Cross Roads which was then called "Brotherton".
Dr. Charles W. Baldwin died on July
15, 1938, in his
98th year, secure in the belief that the future of his beloved colonial Church
of 1861 had been resolved and settled in his lifetime. Little could he have
realized that more then forty years would elapse before that goal could be
achieved.
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A Brief History of
Severn Crossroads Foundation, Inc
"A brand plucked from the
burning…" John Wesley, later describing his near miraculous rescue as a
six-year old child from a disastrous fire which swept through his father's
Epworth rectory in 1709.
After the new Summefield Baldwin, Jr.
Educational Building was completed by September 20, 1970, Charles W. Baldwin Hall was, for the
most part, no longer used by the Church. By 1978, the Hall was in a bad state
of repair. However, it had one of the finest stages with one of the best set of
acoustics in the area and a large hall with an audience seating capacity of
200. During the 1970s, Severn Cross Roads Concert Theater, Inc., produced several of the best stage productions, which
were well attended, ever held at the Hall up to that time. While The Concern
Theater group had painted portions of the interior and made other cosmetic
improvements, it was not able to maintain the Hall and survive financially.
Resistance on the part of the local
Church leadership developed to the idea that funds
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Contact
Information
Severn Crossroads Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 223
Crownsville MD 21032
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Last revised: July
8, 2003