Our History
A Brief History By: Thelma Wess, Church Historian
Along the
banks of the Patapsco River in Baltimore County, Maryland, there is a little mill town
called "Oella". The people of Oella decided
that they wanted a church. Mr. W. A. Dickey Jr., who owned the mill and the town, donated the land and the
people did the rest. The first service of the Oella Methodist Church was held
on Sunday, October 23, 1904.
Many years
later, the people realized that they could better serve the
community by building a larger church. For many years the Sunday School picnic
had been held on the property at the corner of Rockwell and Westchester Avenues. What a better place for a
church than the old picnic ground?
At that
particular time, Trinity Church at the corner of Wabash and Liberty Heights Avenues in Baltimore City, was in the process of
disbanding. It was decided that their funds would be turned over to the
Oella Church with the stipulation that the new church be called "Trinity".
After some
delays and difficulties (like the time the roof rafters were not braced properly,
and they all fell down in domino fashion) the church was finally built. The
first service was held on January 24, 1965. It rained on Saturday and, since it was January, it was very cold.
On Sunday
morning they found that the rain had turned to ice and the parking lot was an
ice rink. Regardless of that, there were 287 people present at that
first service.
Mr. Dickey had shown the little
church many kindnesses so, in his memory, a small round chapel was added to the side of the new church. It is connected to the main
building by breezeway. Small weddings, baptisms and other functions are held in the chapel.
Thus, it is, because of the hard work of a
small group of dedicated people and the Grace of God, we now have Trinity United
Methodist Church of Catonsville, MD.
