We are currently engaged in a multi-year research program into the history of the Presbyterian Church in Alexandria and in preparing a permanent archive for materials relating to our history. This program has dramatically increased the quantity of information available for understanding our history, which extends for more than two and a half centuries, and promises still further yields.

While this research program remains a work-in-progress, we offer here two insights into the remarkable heritage of the Meeting House. The first, A History of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, was prepared by congregation-member Harold Vedeler in 1996 and has been edited to incorporate some material from more recent discoveries. The second, Chronology of Events in the History of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, is the text of a brochure prepared for visitors by the congregation’s History and Archive Committee in 2003.

A History of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House

by Dr. Harold Vedeler

The Old Presbyterian Meeting House is a historical heritage of the past and a living body of the present. Those who enter the sanctuary will feel a sense of communion with its founders and the historical figures associated with it. The church’s history reaches back more than two hundred years. It begins with the movement of Scottish and Ulster-Scottish settlers to the Alexandria area in the eighteenth century. Soon creating positions for themselves, primarily as merchants and sea traders, they took a prominent part in founding the town of Alexandria and a leading role in forming the Presbyterian church of the new community.

Since the Church of England was the established religious organization in the Colony of Virginia, these Calvinist Dissenters were not free to engage in public worship for some time. They met in one another’s houses until 1760 when they began holding public services in the Town House (called so instead of Town Hall) under the name of the Society, or the Presbyterian Society. The 32 members received recognition as an organized congregation in 1772 by having their petition to the Presbytery of Donegal answered with the provision of an ordained pastor, William Thom (1772-73). As their later minister Dr. James Muir (1789-1820) wrote, they were “enabled to erect and cover-in a brick building sixty feet long and fifty broad” in 1775.

For the church born in this way, more than a hundred years of service followed through recurrent difficulties and crises. The War of Independence disrupted the life of the church and checked the progress toward putting it on an established basis. The Presbyterians were fervent supporters of the American Revolution, and the British rulers were prone to believe that the Presbyterian leaders had incited the rebellion of “Cousin America.” These patriots of the Revolution, including those from the Alexandria Presbyterian church, went off to the war, and a number of colonels in the Revolutionary Army were Presbyterian elders. During that time the church had to depend on transient, supply ministers at least four of whom left the pulpit for patriotic duty with the American soldiers.

In the succeeding years internal dissension and departure of members to the western frontier and to other states threatened the breakup of the church. At the same time, the general decline in the country of religious feeling, combined with the spread of rationalistic and deistic tendencies, was not without effect. Nevertheless the congregation in 1787 built a manse, which with a later addition still stands as the Flounder House on the Royal Street side of the church lot, and completed the construction of the sanctuary with a cupola in the 1780s and a bell in 1790.

A crisis in 1817 caused a split in the congregation. For several years, in view of Dr. Muir’s ill health, the members had discussed whether to call an associate pastor. Differences of opinion came to a head after the congregation voted in favor of installing the visiting evangelist, Rev. Daniel C. Baker, as co-pastor rather than Rev. Dr. Elias Harrison, whom Dr. Muir had already brought to Alexandria to be the principal of the Alexandria Academy. When the Rev. Baker then declined the call, 39 members withdrew and formed Alexandria’s Second Presbyterian Church, which affiliated with the Presbytery of Winchester. The remaining 62 members continued as Alexandria’s First Presbyterian Church, as it was known after that. It continued in the Presbytery of Baltimore and installed the Rev. Dr. Harrison as co-pastor. Reflecting national currents in the Presbyterian Church, differences in interpretation of doctrine and faith, and style of worship all may have been factors in the separation. For many years following the split, the First Presbyterian Church made frequent efforts to reunite the two congregations but without success.

The pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Elias Harrison (1820-63) suffered two fateful blows. In 1835, fire from a bolt of lightning devastated the sanctuary, leaving little but the walls surviving. It fell to the Rev. Dr. Harrison to lead the rebuilding efforts. The members, aided by contributions from the community, completed the reconstruction of the church two years later. In the rebuilt sanctuary, the pulpit was relocated from the north to the west wall, the pews realigned to face west, and the roofline altered from hip to straight line. The reconstructed sanctuary also included a vestibule at its front. In 1843, the bell tower with a new bell was added, and in 1849 a pipe organ was installed, made by the famous organ builder, Henry Erben, from New York City. This instrument is still played today. In 1853, the wooden entrance structure was replaced with a stone platform and stone steps. Though far better than most congregations of the day in terms of providing financial compensation for its pastors, the Meeting House, like others, apparently perceived that a career in the ministry should be undertaken in response to a call rather than for financial reward, as the Rev. Elias Harrison did not always receive his full salary of eight hundred dollars a year.

The Civil War came upon the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Harrison as a crowning misfortune and imposed a train of fatal consequences for the church. Union forces occupied Alexandria throughout the war and set up a military government. They converted the city into a transportation hub and hospital center for both Union soldiers and Confederate captives. The Meeting House did not escape the intrusions of the military occupation. Since the Rev. Dr. Harrison did not take an oath of allegiance to the authorities, along with several other local pastors, he was not allowed to perform the sacrament of baptism or marriage ceremonies. As his letters to a friend suggest, he died with a heart grieving over the “evil times” of war and party bitterness. Throughout his long pastorate this unassuming man, beloved by his congregation and community, labored against adversity with unflagging perseverance and undimmed faith. He is one of the builders of our Meeting House traditions who have made the past a living force in the present.

The congregation, which had remained pro-Unionist during the Civil War and part of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (northern Presbyterian Church denomination, 1861-1983) thereafter, when local sentiments in this once-prosperous center of trade and commerce turned inward in celebration of a former pre-industrial southern society, dwindled in numbers during the latter decades of the nineteenth century. Alexandria’s Second Presbyterian Church, part of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (the southern Presbyterian Church denomination, 1861-1983 ), the more popular course in Virginia. The membership of the Meeting House fell off from an average of around 200 communicants prior to the war to 70 thereafter. Difficulties arose in retaining pastors. The First Presbyterian Church received its last installed pastor in 1885 and the congregation worshipped formally together for the last time in December 1889. Ten years later, the Presbytery of Washington City, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., transferred the church property to Alexandria’s Second Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in the U.S. The history of the First Presbyterian Church of Alexandria had come to a close.

From 1899 until 1949 the Meeting House property was part of Second Presbyterian Church, and was utilized periodically by both Second Presbyterian and other congregations for worship.

With the passage of time and continued preservation of its structures, the Meeting House has become a historical monument. This cradle of the Presbyterian faith in Alexandria provides an outstanding example of the restrained and simple beauty of the church architecture bequeathed the nation by the Dissenting Protestants of Virginia. The building is associated with famous figures of the era of the American Revolution and the founding of the American nation. Colonel John Carlyle, Alexandria’s leading citizen of the time, was chiefly responsible for the building of the Meeting House; Colonel Dennis Ramsay, who shared in getting its construction started, was a mayor of Alexandria; another member of the church, William Hunter, Jr., founded the St. Andrew’s Society of Scottish descendants.

There are also connections between Northern Virginia’s most famous resident, George Washington, and the Meeting House. It is believed he made a contribution to the building of the original sanctuary and that he attended worship services conducted by Masonic Lodge No. 22 at which charity sermons were delivered to raise funds for the assistance of those of insufficient monetary means. He also attended services on May 9, 1798, proclaimed by President John Adams as a National Day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer when war with France seemed likely. Dr. James Craik of the congregation, surgeon general of the Continental Army, was by Washington’s side during the French and Indian War and the War of Independence. A personal friend and Washington’s physician for many years, Dr. Craik attended him on his deathbed. The Rev. Dr. James Muir, who was chaplain of Masonic Lodge No. 22, took part in the burial service at Mount Vernon. When Washington died, the bell of the Meeting House, the only such in Alexandria at the time, tolled for four days and nights. Four memorial services for him were held in the Meeting House, and Dr. Muir delivered one of the sermons in those observances.

For many years the local Masonic order, in which Washington was Worshipful Master, celebrated the anniversary of its patron saint, John the Evangelist, by a procession to the Meeting House to hear a charity sermon from its pastor. The Washington Society, formed in 1800 by his friends and associates including the Rev. Dr. Muir, commemorated his birthday year after year by a parade to the Meeting House and an oration there by a notable speaker. In 1814 Francis Scott Key gave this annual address not long before he wrote The Star Spangled Banner, and Chief Justice John Marshall delivered one of these speeches. Among other noteworthy observances in the church was a funeral service for President Zachary Taylor, a citizen of Virginia, upon his death in 1850.

The early ministers of the Meeting House took part in the development of Alexandria’s educational institutions and in other spheres of community affairs. The Rev. Dr. Isaac Stockton Keith (1780-88) was an original trustee of the Alexandria Academy in which Washington pursued a continuing interest with his support of its free school for orphans and the indigent. The Rev. Dr. Muir was president of its Board of Trustees during most years of his ministry; the Rev. Dr. Harrison served as its principal; and numerous other Presbyterian ministers taught there.

The Rev. Dr. Muir opened an academy for the education of young ladies. His daughters conducted another academy which the Rev. Dr. Harrison superintended. When the Alexandria Library organized in 1794, the Rev. Dr. Muir became its president and continued to head it for the next 13 years. The Rev. Dr. Elias Harrison and Benjamin Hallowell, a gifted and honored local Quaker teacher, founded the Alexandria Lyceum and acted as its leaders for many years.

In other areas of activity, Dr. Muir shared in laying the cornerstone of the United States Capitol on September 8, 1793, and headed a party to negotiate with the British commanders for the safety of Alexandria in the War of 1812. He distinguished himself not only as a Presbyterian minister and as a representative of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, but also as an effective and esteemed community leader.

Adjoining the sanctuary is a historical burial ground that is a memorial to the church’s founders and to heroes of the War of Independence and the leaders of early Alexandria. There the visitor will walk among the graves of the Carlyles, Dennis Ramsay, William Hunter, Jr., the Muirs, and Dr. Craik. Also among the buried are other friends of President Washington and members of his Masonic Lodge. At one side of the graveyard is the Memorial to an Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution, erected by the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution and dedicated in 1929. Each year on the first Saturday in December, members of the St. Andrew’s Society, dressed in kilts, march to the graveyard to the music of their bagpipers to honor the Society’s founder, William Hunter, Jr., at his grave, followed with a worship service in the sanctuary.

During the interim of 50 years without a regular congregation and with only sporadic use, by the 1920’s insufficient maintenance was causing the church building to fall into a generally poor state of repair. Town authorities wanted to see it torn down for fear that its condition was risking accidents of danger to the public. A campaign of national proportions to restore the sanctuary got underway in 1925. Alexandria’s Second Presbyterian Church set up the Presbyterian Meeting House Restoration Committee, chaired by John B. Gordon, to lead the movement. Various civic, fraternal, patriotic, and historical organizations including the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution, the Eastern Star, and the Elks joined the endeavor. They formed committees of their own for this purpose and contributed to the Presbyterian Meeting House Restoration Fund. The efforts of so many resulted in repairing the exterior of the church, laying on a new roof, and renovating the plastering and floors. Donation of funds by Andrew Mellon and Elihu Root made possible the installation of copies of whale oil lamps from colonial times. The Restoration Committee adopted the name of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House in its public notices about the restoration campaign.

Public interest in the Meeting House continued over the years as it was open to visitors daily and utilized for worship services on occasion. With tensions in Europe heightened following the annexation of Austria into the German Reich in March 1938, the anniversary of the May 1798 National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer worship service, which had been conducted during a time when the involvement of the United States in war was believed eminent and which George Washington had attended, was honored with the placing of a memorial tablet on the front of the sanctuary in May 1938. Two years later, the Alexandria Association presented the Meeting House with a new pulpit, a conjectural reproduction of the original one.

During and after the Second World War an influx of new residents in the Alexandria area put pressure on its churches to enlarge their facilities and services. That need and its responsibility as title-holder of the Meeting House property impelled the Second Presbyterian Church to give continuing study for several years whether to keep to its own sanctuary at the northwest corner of Prince and St. Asaph streets, build a new modern sanctuary somewhere outside of the downtown area, or move to a rehabilitated Meeting House sanctuary. At last in February 1949, the congregation of Second Presbyterian Church voted by a bare majority to remain at its existing location but also approved, with the promise of assistance, the forming of a new congregation at the Meeting House. A committed group then withdrew from the Second Presbyterian Church to constitute a nucleus of the 128 members who received approval from the Presbytery of Potomac, Presbyterian Church in the U.S., to organize a new congregation. They turned with zeal and dedication to prepare for the formal opening of the renewed church. Outside they cleared the unkempt grounds of shoulder-high brush and weeds while inside they cleaned the floors, pews, walls, and windows.

On June 12, 1949, an organizational meeting brought to life the new congregation. Members were received, a statement of organization was adopted, and officers were elected. The dedicatory sermon bore the title, “New Hearts in Old Stones.” The Second Presbyterian Church, formed more than a century earlier through breaking away from the Meeting House, had now become the mother church of the newly organized body. After 50 years of semi-dormant existence without a separate established congregation, the Meeting House was reborn as a living church. We can sense the feeling inspired in the charter members who brought about this rebirth from a report of the Stewardship Committee a month later: “It comes to the experience of few people in their lifetime to embrace an opportunity such as this and to accept the challenge for good presented.”

The new congregation completed its organization with the formation of committees and set about supplying a Rehabilitation or Progress Fund to support the extensive work of renovation. The membership had to gather resources for maintaining a staff and for carrying on missions and ministries. The Women’s Auxiliary, subsequently called the Women of the Church, made a substantial contribution to this effort by raising funds through numerous enterprises such as bazaars, bake and cake sales, teas, luncheons for public events, and rummage sales. The church leadership obtained generous subscriptions and contributions, and friends in the community, including the Alexandria Association, made gifts. Through these means the congregation repaired the walls and roof of the sanctuary and enlarged the basement so as to install a furnace and provide washrooms. They improved the wiring, renovated the floors, and replastered the ceiling. They reconditioned the Erben organ, modernizing it with a mechanical blower.

The new congregation adopted the official name of The Presbyterian Meeting House but followed with reference to the historic church property the growing usage of The Old Presbyterian Meeting House. It held its first regular worship service on June 19, 1949, and opened the Sunday School in the balcony the same day. For more than a year the church depended upon guest ministers until the installation of the Reverend Dr. Kenneth G. Phifer. This undertaking of body and soul to launch a vigorous church in a new era was well on its way.

Since the rebirth of the church, it has had four pastorates, those of the Reverend Doctors Kenneth G. Phifer (1950-58), William R. Sengel (1960-86), Thomas K. Farmer (1987-91), and Gary W. Charles (1993-2004). Under their lead the Meeting House has grown in membership, facilities, and mission. The membership increased from 150 in 1949 to 1,000 at the present time. The Flounder House was rehabilitated for use as studies for the pastors and as church offices. Increasing activities necessitated the construction of the Educational Building in 1957. Christian Education, developing from the Sunday School of 1949, expanded in scope and system, including adult classes. A number of youth programs have appealed to the young people. The Meeting House has taken a significant part in the affairs of the larger Presbyterian church: pastors have served as moderators of National Capital Presbytery, and delegates to the General Assembly, national legislative body of the Presbyterian Church. Outside the United States the Meeting House has helped to maintain a Presbyterian ministry in Congo, Japan, Mexico and Korea.

Following the tradition begun by the Rev. Drs. James Muir and Elias Harrison, the reborn church actively participates in dealing with community concerns. The Meeting House Cooperative Preschool is open to families both from within and outside the church membership. The Meeting House provides a center for groups of Alcohol Anonymous to meet in the Flounder House. The Family-to-Family ministry, carried out in close cooperation with the city’s social service agencies, extends a helping hand with specific assistance to those in urgent and unusual need. Through the work of volunteers and contributions of food, the church helps Carpenter’s Shelter and Christ House feed the homeless. Volunteers share in bringing Meals-on-Wheels to shut-ins and in preparing bag lunches for the needy. Members take part in maintaining the Senior Citizens Employment and Services of Alexandria. The Meeting House has made a covenant with the city of Alexandria, Habitat for Humanity, and Project Children to provide an owner-occupied, affordable house in this city. It has been constructed housing with the aid of Protestant and Catholic young people from Northern Ireland sponsored by the church and Project Children. The Meeting House took the lead in creating Alexandria’s Tutoring Consortium to improve the reading skills of inner-city school children. It also sends summer work camps elsewhere to assist local residents to build and repair houses and provide medical clinics.