A Walking Tour of Frederick, Maryland: Church Street

Frederick, Maryland, an English-German settlement established in 1745, existed through 273 years of American upbringing. Numerous famous political figures including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin visited the thriving city as it survived almost all of America’s rich history. Frederick, Maryland has its own rich history and Church Street’s existence is paramount to understanding its impressive past. The Dulany family, the founders of Frederick, donated land on All Saints Street to the Evangelical Reformed Church to build the town’s first church in 1747. This was just two years after the city was founded. In the early 19th century, a second church was designed by Henry McCleery, a local renowned architect, and erected on North Court Street. During the mid-19th century, builders and architects began to construct churches along Church Street in order to create centralized gathering locations for church-goers to congregate every week. When church leaders moved their central parishes to Church Street, they used the original buildings for parish houses that served as locations for business and social gatherings. Many prominent elites who made significant contributions to the construction of the churches bought land and built houses and buildings along Church Street. The influence of the original owners of these structures links their historical significance to the present day.