Editorial: Happy 250th, Dumbarton United Methodist Church!
By • April 13, 2022 0 940
Dumbarton United Methodist Church, celebrated a milestone this past March — 250 years as one of the oldest continuously active Methodist churches in the world. The church located at 3133 Dumbarton St. NW has been a part of Georgetown since 1772. Parishioners first met in a cooper’s shop then on 28th Street (formerly Montgomery Street) and finally settled on Dumbarton Avenue in 1850. The church was remodeled around 50 years later with the current Romanesque front added. The stained-glass windows were installed over a two-year period from 1898-1900. The church was inaugurated before the Methodist Church was even created.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton attended a Sunday service in March at the church to celebrate 250 years of Dumbarton UMC.
“It all started in a cooper’s workshop in Georgetown before the Revolutionary War,” said Pastor Rev. Rachel Cornwell in a church blog post. “Our church has so much of D.C. history wrapped into its own stories.”
Dumbarton UMC is known as the “mother church” for Mt. Zion, Foundry, Capitol Hill and other Methodist churches in the area. If you’re interested in learning more about Dumbarton UMC, the church is well-known for its stained-glass windows. If you visit the church at 3133 Dumbarton St. NW, you’ll see each window’s QR code that has a story about not only the church, but Georgetown’s rich history.
