Bethesda Meetinghouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front elevation, 2008
Location:	9400 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, Maryland
Coordinates:	39°0′35″N 77°5′54″W / 39.00972°N 77.09833°W / 39.00972; -77.09833
Built/Founded:	1850
Architectural style(s):	Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Other
Governing body:	Private
Added to NRHP:	April 18, 1977
NRHP Reference#:	77000699[1]

The Bethesda Meeting House is a historic church complex in Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is situated on Maryland Route 355 (also known as Wisconsin Avenue, and Rockville Pike) just inside the Washington Beltway.

The Bethesda Meeting House property includes the 1850 meeting house itself, the mid-late 19th century parsonage to the south, and the associated cemetery. The church is a large, wood-frame structure built in the Greek Revival "temple" form, although it features Gothic-style windows throughout. To the south of the church is a two-story frame Victorian parsonage built on a cruciform plan, with some Queen Anne-style embellishments. ^[2]

The church was constructed on the foundation of an 1820 Presbyterian church which burned down in 1849. It served as the Bethesda Presbyterian Church from 1850 until 1925 when the congregation decided to erect a new church on Wilson Lane, farther south in Bethesda. When the church moved to its new location in 1925, the trustees sold the building and 7 acres (28,000 m²) of land to Mrs. May Fitch Kelley. The Presbyterian congregation, however, retained ownership of the cemetery.

Mrs. Kelly lived in the church building for many years. In 1945, the property was sold to a Catholic missionary group known as the "White Fathers of Africa". The property was transferred again in the 1950s, to the trustees of the Temple Hill Baptist Church.^[2] It is currently occupied by the Temple Hill Baptist Church and is open for Sunday services to all who wish to worship there.

• The community of Bethesda was named in 1871 by the postmaster, Robert Franck, after the Bethesda Meeting House. After nearly 10 years of lobbying efforts, Rev. Edward Henry Cumpston (pastor of Bethesda Meeting House) convinced Mr. Franck to change the name of the post office from "Darcy's Store" to "Bethesda" in 1871.^[3]

• It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] Other Sources

• The Spirit of Captain John, by Eugene and Edythe Clark, Carlton Press, New York, NY, 1970
• Old Bethesda by Dorce Germaine Holman and Not So Old, by Gertrude D. Bradley, Franklin Press, Gaithersburg, MD, 1956
• Bethesda: A Social History, by William M Offutt, The Innovation Game, Bethesda, MD, 1995

[edit] External links

• Bethesda Meeting House, Montgomery County, Inventory No.: M: 35-5, including photo in 1974, at Maryland Historical Trust website
• Bethesda Meeting House, history of Bethesda Meeting House at allBethesda.com

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