The Church of the Redeemer was founded in 1855 when the Perine family sought to create a place of worship for their family and others living in what was then Baltimore County. Redeemer’s history has been chronicled in “This Parish Under God: 1855-1955” called the “Red Book” available in the Cloister room library. This historical account is complemented by the report, “From Civil War to Civil Rights: The History of Race at Church of the Redeemer,” a product of the Redeemer History Committee requested by the Vestry in 2022. See below for select dates drawn from the report.
View the events page to participate in the twice-yearly history walks that share details of the report. Hint: select the filter “Community Engagement & Justice.”
Select Dates from the Redeemer History Report
1855: The Church of the Redeemer was established and held its first services at the Govanstown Academy at the corner of Bellona and Lake Avenues. Separate Sunday Schools were held for white and Black people, including enslaved people.
1859: The current chapel, which served as the primary place of worship for roughly one hundred years, was completed, most likely by slave labor. The chapel included a slave gallery—the loft that now holds an organ—which according to church records was “well-filled,” likely including enslaved people from at least six of the founding church families. Meanwhile, records show financial contributions from Ellen Mooney, a free Black woman, starting in 1861.
1864: Slavery ended in Maryland when a new constitution went into effect Nov. 1, nearly two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Parishioners were on opposing sides of the vote for the constitution.
1871-1900: 34 Black individuals were baptized, confirmed, married or buried by a Redeemer rector. Attendance in Episcopal churches diminishes substantially as free Black people establish their own places of worship.
1922: Roland Park Company acquires land from the Perine family and builds Homeland neighborhood with racially restrictive covenants adjacent to Redeemer property. The first homes were sold in 1924; Black people were not allowed to purchase these homes.
1920 – 1950s: Redeemer quadruples its weekly attendees as the adjacent segregated neighborhood grows. During the Jim Crow era, prevailing attitudes about race at Redeemer can be glimpsed in occasional references such as an announcement for the annual church picnic in June 1940 highlighting a minstrel show and an opportunity to contribute to a fund for a memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at the Washington National Cathedral.
1963: After celebrating Eucharist together in the chapel, Rev. Sims, along with staff and parishioners from Redeemer and other parishes, attended Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, traveling on two buses with a total of 75 people, half of whom were Black and half of whom were White.
1960s: Parishioners and successive Redeemer clergy, Rev. Sims and Rev. Patterson, grappled with a faithful response to segregation, partnering with the African American St. James Lafayette Episcopal congregation taking part in conferences, workshops, dinners, and home visits and later the “What Color is Power” ecumenical meetings on racism.
Recent Notable Dates
2017: After two years of participating in Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) activities, the vestry voted to become a dues-paying member of BUILD, a multi-faith, multi-ethnic network of community groups and faith communities, organizing and training people to transform themselves and their neighborhoods and build the common good.
2019: The Vestry committed a portion of their monthly meetings to the “Sacred Ground” curriculum, which led to over 150 parishioners taking part in the anti-racism course over the subsequent five years.
2022: Parish leaders, Senior Warden Keri Frisch and Treasurer Doug Riley, called for the creation of a history committee charged with exploring Redeemer’s relationship to the institution of slavery, along with the laws and customs of the Jim Crow era, culminating in the report, From Civil War to Civil Rights: The History of Race at Church of the Redeemer.