American University Park in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
And the Church Goes on
Top of the Town
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Eldbrooke United Methodist Church's roots reach to about 1835, when Methodists gathered at the Loughborough Road home of Philip L. Brooke. Soon they built the simple, wooden Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church on land purchased from the Murdock family.
During the Civil War (1861-1865) Union troops used the church as a guardhouse, storehouse, hospital, and mess hall. Later two Road Island regiments set up Camp Frieze around the church and along the narrow River Road westward to Fort Bayard.
Some Union soldiers helped themselves to Tenleytowners' food and other goods. This irked the wealthy, slaveholding residents who sympathized with the South. Ann Forrest Green of nearby Rosedale wrote of "this detestable and unnatural war," loathing the thousands of Union troops who passed by her home "shouting and shooting" randomly. Those who used the church did so much damage that the church put up a new building in 1866.
When parishioners enlarged that church in 1899, they renamed it to honor church leaders Aquila Eld and Philip L. Brooke. The large Spanish Mission style sanctuary dates from 1926. With a dwindling membership, the Methodist church closed in 2005. The City Church opened there in 2008.
Take a short walk along Murdock Mill Road, to the left of the Historic Landmark church, to
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Erected 2010 by Cultural Tourism DC. (Marker Number 9.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Religion & Religious Structures • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Defenses of Washington, and the Tenleytown Heritage Trail series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1835.
Location. 38° 56.956′ N, 77° 4.847′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in American University Park. It is on River Road Northwest just west of Murdock Mill Road, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4530 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington DC 20016, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American Northeast, in the Upper South, in the Mid-Atlantic, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Birth of Tennallytown (within shouting distance of this marker); In Touch with the World (within shouting distance of this marker); Beer, Popcorn, and Penny Candy
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), October 31, 2021
3. And the Church Goes on Marker
In the background is the present-day City Church in the same building that the Methodist church worshiped for over a century.
Library of Congress
4. Camp Frieze, 1862.
Union troops created Camp Frieze around the Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, visible at the lower left.
From: History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862, by William Arnold Spicer, 1892.
From: History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862, by William Arnold Spicer, 1892.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 19, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 31, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 348 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 31, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. 4. submitted on November 11, 2023, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
