Little Wooden Church in the City

Since 1854, this small, wooden chapel has set in this little corner of DC as the city has grown all around it.  The other buildings in the neighborhood are brick and brownstone rowhouses from the late nineteenth century or new, shiny condo complexes looming above. Yet, somehow, in one incarnation or another, the church has survived.  When it was first constructed, it was Fletcher Chapel, a Methodist church that was believed to be one of the stops on the Underground Railroad. It's also been the Church of God and the Saints of Christ Church. In the 1960s when New York Ave. was being expanded and modernized, it was nearly demolished until the presiding church leaders, congregation, and community rallied around to save one of the oldest houses of worship in DC.  In 1997 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, preserving it, and its history as part of the DC Civil Rights Walk, for generations.