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The Falls Church

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Coordinates: 38°52′51″N 77°10′16″W / 38.88083°N 77.17111°W / 38.88083; -77.17111
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This article is about the historical episcopal church. For the parish and congregation split from here, see The Falls Church Anglican.

Falls Church
The Falls Church is located in Northern Virginia
The Falls Church
The Falls Church is located in Virginia
The Falls Church
The Falls Church is located in the United States
The Falls Church
Location115 E. Fairfax St., Falls Church, Virginia
Coordinates38°52′51″N 77°10′16″W / 38.88083°N 77.17111°W / 38.88083; -77.17111
Area0 acres (0 ha)
Built1767 (1767)
ArchitectCol. James Wren
NRHP reference No.70000870[1]
VLR No.110-0001
Significant dates
Added to NRHPFebruary 26, 1970
Designated VLRDecember 2, 1969[2]

The Falls Church is an historic Episcopal church, from which the city of Falls Church, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., takes its name. Established in 1732, the parish in 1769 built a brick church building that remains in use today.

History

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Colonial beginnings

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The forerunner to The Falls Church appears to have been founded by landowner William Gunnell, who had moved from Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1729. In the spring of 1730, he secured a minister and convened a congregation, which met in his home until 1733, when the first building was constructed.[3] Until that time, this area was served by a clergyman who lived near present-day Quantico, and the nearest church was Pohick Church near Lorton.

Known as "William Gunnell's Church", the new wooden structure was designed and built by Colonel Richard Blackburn, who was directed to construct a weatherboarded building forty feet by twenty-two feet, with a 13:12 pitch roof, and with interior work modeled on that of Pohick Church; the cost was 33,500 pounds of tobacco. Like Pohick Church, the new church served Truro Parish, which had been established by the colonial Virginia Assembly in May 1732 for the land north of the Occoquan River; Truro's first vestry met in November 1732. Michael Reagan allowed the church to be built on his land, but failed to grant the deed. John Trammell later bought the land and, in 1746, sold the two acre lot, including the church, the churchyard, and a spring, to the vestry of Truro Parish. By this point, it was known as the Upper Church.[3]

The Vestry Book first referred to it as the "Falls Church" on November 28, 1757, owing to its location at the intersection of the road to the Little Falls of the Potomac River (upstream of the Chain Bridge) and the Middle Turnpike (leading from Alexandria to Leesburg, now Virginia Route 7 or Leesburg Pike, called West Broad Street in downtown Falls Church City).[3]

George Mason was elected vestryman in 1748, as was George Washington in 1762.[3]

The new brick church

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By 1762, the wood building had fallen into decay and the vestry ordered a new brick building to be constructed on the same site. The next year, George Washington and George William Fairfax, as church wardens, assumed responsibility to contract for the new building. After 1765, this church became the seat of the new Fairfax Parish.[4][5]

The new church was designed by Colonel James Wren, a member of the vestry. Work commenced in 1767 and completed in late fall 1769.[3] Wren, a slaveowner, used enslaved people to do the work.[6]

The Wren building remains on the site, between S. Washington, E. Broad, and E. Fairfax Streets. The 1769 structure is the oldest remaining church building north of Quantico in Virginia and is one of the oldest church structures in the United States.

Revolutionary War and aftermath

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The Fairfax Militia recruited from the church during the Revolutionary War, and it is said that at the war's end, the Declaration of Independence was read to citizens from the steps of the south doors. In 1784, the Commonwealth of Virginia revoked the status of the Anglican Church as state church. In 1789, The Falls Church was abandoned[3] and remained unoccupied for almost 50 years; in 1836, it was reoccupied by an Episcopal congregation.[7] Francis Scott Key was a lay reader of this congregation, as was Henry Fairfax, who used his own funds to restore the building during 1838 and 1839.

Civil War disruption and damage

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During the American Civil War the church was used by Union troops as a hospital and later as a stable. Use of the building for worship services resumed after the war; the sanctuary has now been in continuous use since about 1873. The interior was repaired after the war, with the Federal government paying for damage caused by Union forces. Some of these repairs can be discerned in brickwork below the windows and in the lower part of the brick doorway at the west end of the church.

The church was remodeled in 1908 and extensively renovated in 1959. Galleries in Wren's original design but never constructed were installed, and a new chancel was added. Other than repairs of war damage and the chancel addition, the structure reflects the original 1769 construction.

Disaffiliation and church ownership issues

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Between 2006 and 2014 the congregation became divided on religious issues, and the buildings and property of the congregation became the subject of protracted litigation.[8]

In December 2006, about 90% of the congregation voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) (a member of the Anglican Communion), and join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).[9][10][11] The minority group reorganized itself as The Falls Church (Episcopal), and began holding services across the street at Falls Church Presbyterian Church. The disaffiliating majority renamed itself The Falls Church (Anglican) and continued to worship at The Falls Church property, and later petitioned a local court to transfer ownership of the property to CANA. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, of The Episcopal Church, intervened in the case and resisted the transfer. After a series of trial court rulings and appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a trial court decision that left the church property in the hands of The Episcopal Church.[12][13][14]

The Episcopal parish returned to worshiping at the historic property, and the Anglican parish moved to a different location. In March 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Falls Church Anglican, ending the matter.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Steadman, Melvin Lee (1964). Falls Church by Fence and Fireside. Falls Church Public Library. ISBN 9780788402036.
  4. ^ "The Falls Church".
  5. ^ Pohick Church, Minutes of the Vestry, Truro Parish, Virginia, 1732-1785 (Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1974), p. 58; transcription of Truro Vestry Minutes for February 19, 1749, ordering the rebuilding of the vestry house, the seat of the parish vestry, at Pohick Church in southern Fairfax County.
  6. ^ Paulsen, David (February 17, 2017). "Virginia congregation honors slaves who built church, offers 'gratitude and repentance'". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  7. ^ Gundersen, Joan R. (December 22, 2006). "How "Historic" Are Truro Church and The Falls Church?". Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  8. ^ Schjonberg, Mary Frances. Falls Church Anglicans appeal to state Supreme Court. Episcopal News Service, June 6, 2012
  9. ^ Turque, Bill; Michelle Boorstein (December 18, 2006). "7 Va. Episcopal Parishes Vote to Sever Ties". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  10. ^ "The Falls Church and Truro Church Vote Overwhelmingly to Sever Ties with Episcopal Church". Global South Anglican. December 17, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  11. ^ "Petition for Approval of Report of Congregational Determination Pursuant to Va. Code 57-9" (PDF). Arlington County Circuit Court. December 13, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  12. ^ Bellows, Judge Randy I. (January 10, 2012). "Letter opinion of the court regarding the complaints filed by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia and the Amended Counterclaims Filed by the CANA Congregations" (PDF). Circuit Court of Fairfax County. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  13. ^ Episcopal Church wins Virginia Supreme Court ruling The Washington Post
  14. ^ Benton, Nicholas F. (May 23, 2012). "Anglicans Hand Keys of Historic Falls Church to Episcopalians". Falls Church News-Press. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2019. The breakaway group, the Falls Church Anglican, voted itself out of the Episcopal denomination in December 2006 due in part to its objection to the election of an openly-gay priest as a bishop in the denomination in 2003. It was compelled for the first time last Sunday by court rulings in January and last month (to deny a stay pending appeal) to move off the historic church campus to hold its Sunday services elsewhere.
  15. ^ Michelle Boorstein (March 10, 2014). "Supreme Court won't hear appeal of dispute over Episcopal Church's property in Va". Washington Post.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Falls Church.

The Falls Church

The Falls Church (Anglican)

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