HISTORY: Name That Church
Here’s another quiz for you history buffs. The church pictured here was built by a congregation still active in Falls Church City today. The first person who names that congregation wins . . . what else? . . . a free one-year subscription to the Falls Church Times. And bonus points go to anyone who can name the guy standing in front.
UPDATE, August 11, 10:45am:
Thank you to all who responded so quickly. The church pictured is Columbia Baptist Church at its original location at 160 E. Broad Street. This building was completed in 1858, where the congregation met until the early 1900′s when it moved to its current location at Columbia and N. Washington.
And the man in the foreground is indeed believed to be Mathew Brady, famed photographer of the era who spent a number of days in Falls Church during the Civil War. This photo was taken circa 1862. An obvious question is why Brady was in the photo instead of taking it, but the historians have identified the figure as he. If anyone has information on how the photo was taken and why Brady appears in it, we would love to know.
Later this week we will run a longer piece on “The Churches of Falls Church – Then and Now.” We hope you enjoy it.
Thank you to all who responded!
By Stan Fendley, Falls Church City
August 11, 2009
The church is Columbia Baptist.
Columbia Baptist Church before it was moved from Broad Street.
The man in the foreground of the picture is Matthew Brady.
Thank you for your quick responses. You are correct. The church pictured is Columbia Baptist Church at its original location at 160 E. Broad Street. This building was completed in 1858, where the congregation met until the early 1900′s when it moved to its current location at Columbia and N. Washington.
And the man in the foreground is indeed believed to be Mathew Brady, famed photographer of the era who spent a number of days in Falls Church during the Civil War. This photo was taken circa 1862. An obvious question is why Brady was in the photo instead of taking it, but the historians have identified the figure as him. If anyone has information on how the photo was taken and why Brady appears in it, we would love to know.
Later this week we will run a longer piece on “The Churches of Falls Church – Then and Now.” We hope you enjoy it.
Thank you to all who responded!
So is that The Falls Church (nee Episcopal) in the background?
Good eye. The building in the background would appear to me to be The Falls Church, but we would need a genuine historian to say it’s a fact.
No historian needed, it is The Falls Church as Brady took several pictures of it as well. The Baptist church was moved to make way for Broad Street. Remember Fairfax Street (next to TFC) was part of the “Rolling Road” which was the main road to Alexandria and the cargo ships at that time…….
Only six degrees of separation. . . . By the way, when Columbia Baptist tore down this church they gave the “reclaimed” wood to members of the African American community who built a school and what became Galloway United Methodist Church (1870) which is still in operation today. (although the original wooden structure has been rebuilt. This church was Bob & Meredith Morrison’s church home and the location where his service was held on this past Saturday. The church is in Falls Church City, but due to the gerrymandering of the borders, the parsonage is now in Fairfax County.
Regarding the question about Mathew Brady, Brady operated a studio and supervised several photographers, but did not actually shoot many of the photographs that were attributed to him. (Brady is buried in Congressional Cemetery on Capitol Hill, and this is explained in their materials.) Here’s another citation from the Library of Congress:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwbrady.html