719 WFCHS/THL

Inventory created by Archives Staff 07/2003. Last revised 09/2019.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Collection is open to all researchers.

USE RESTRICTIONS: Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a member of the archives staff for information concerning these restrictions. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright.

EXTENT: 0.42 linear feet

DATE: 1741 – 1992

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The Centenary United Church of Christ Collection contains brochures, histories, record books, yearbooks, and photomechanical reproductions of records found in the Record Book of the Church 1741-1887. Records date from 1741 to 1941 and document the church’s history and its occupation and destruction by Union forces. Also included is a 1750 deed transferring land for a church to the Reformed Calvinists from Thomas Lord Fairfax (1693-1781).

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL: The congregation belonging to this church has been known by several different names. It was originally known as the Reformed Calvinists or German Reformed Church at its founding in 1741 in Kernstown, VA. In 1753, the congregation moved to Winchester, VA and built a church on land deeded by Thomas Lord Fairfax (1693-1781). In 1841, the church was renamed the Centenary Reformed Church and a new church building was erected on the present corner of South Cameron and East Cork Streets, Winchester, VA. During the American Civil War, 1861-1865, the Church was converted into a hospital. Union troops would later use it as a stable, causing considerable damage to the structure. In 1934, the church became known as the Centenary Evangelical and Reformed Church and, in 1957, the church’s name became Centenary United Church of Christ.

CITE AS: Centenary United Church of Christ Collection, 719 THL/WFCHS, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA.

ACQUISITION INFORMATION: Long-term Loan

ORGANIZATION:                     

BOX 1

News clippings, The Winchester Star, 1991-1992, 4 items

Civil War – Centenary Reformed Church – folder contains the following:
War Claims Report of the U. S. House of Representatives, for claim filed by trustees of Centenary Church, March 13, 1894, 4 pages, printed                                                                                                                          
“Evidence of the Use, Occupancy, and Destruction by the United States Forces of the Centenary Reformed Church, Winchester, VA, 1862 – 1865” presented by the Board of Missions of the Three Eastern Synods of the Reformed Church or the United States. Times Co., Winchester, VA 1888, 8 pages, printed.

Bulletins, 1919, 1 item, printed

Invitation - lecture on Near East, by Rev. Paul Leinbach, February 22, 1920, 1 leaf, printed

Bicentennial celebration of Congregation, 1941, 4 leaves, typescript

250th anniversary, 1741-1991, booklet, 2 items, printed

Yearbook and Church Directory, 1916 [1930-31] 2 items, printed

A Brief Historical Sketch of the Virginia Classis of the Reformed Church in the United States, by J. Silor Garrison, Published in connection with the Centennial Celebration of the Organization of the Classis, 1825-1925, 1 item, printed

Centenary Church of Christ - record book, c. 1741-1887, containing baptisms, deaths, marriages, communicants, subscriptions, news clippings, 1 item, manuscript

Centenary Church of Christ - photocopies of records in Record Book, 45 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Deed from Lord Fairfax for Reformed Calvinists, 1750, 1 item, manuscript (photocopy available in the Lord Fairfax Collection, 57 THL)