Just miles from downtown Washington, D.C., the Maryland town of Takoma Park will become the center of celebrations of a long history with the Adventist Church.
Just miles from downtown Washington, D.C., the Maryland town of Takoma Park will become the center of celebrations of a long history with the Adventist Church. Beginning with the Takoma Park Adventist Church in 1904, other church institutions have since made their mark on the town and, today, commemorate 100 years there.
The weekend celebrations will be held Oct. 8 and 9 at the Takoma Park Adventist Church, and will also mark the start to Annual Council, a meeting at the world headquarters with the church’s worldwide executive committee, who are invited to join Takoma Park Adventists in the festivities.
In a recent historical overview of the church’s centennial in Takoma Park, the “Visitor,” a regional church paper in the Mid-Atlantic United States, compares the Adventist presence to the meaning of the name “Tacoma,” the original name for the city. In American Indian nomenclature, that means “exalted,” “high place,” or “close to heaven.” For the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the city became “an exalted place” when the church’s world headquarters was established in 1904 and continued until 1989 before its move to the neighboring Silver Spring, Maryland. The city also saw an establishment of the church’s publishing house, the Review and Herald Publishing Association, currently located in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The Takoma Park Adventist Church, located in the heart of “Old Town,” where its spire can be seen from the Metro rail system, began in 1904 with a small congregation of 41 members. Today, the church, designed in American Gothic style, has some 1,300 members representing more than 45 nationalities.
Other Adventist institutions still serving in this city are Washington Adventist Hospital, Columbia Union College and Sligo Adventist Church, one of the largest Adventist churches in the region.
The church’s start in Takoma Park began after the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan was destroyed by fire in 1902 and, later that same year, the Review and Herald Publishing Association, also in Battle Creek, suffered the same fate. These tragic events prompted a desire to relocate.
A locating committee, headed by then world church president A. G. Daniells, began exploring East Coast sites. “One of the finest places we have found [is] Takoma Park,” Daniells wrote. “It is on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad running to Chicago and St. Louis. It is also reached by [streetcar]. It is five or six miles from the city [Washington, D.C.]. ... It is a magnificent place.” Ellen White, one of the church’s founders, confirmed this decision.
Benjamin Franklin Gilbert, Takoma Park founder, welcomed the Church to his rural, family-oriented suburb six miles from the nation’s capital.
After the move, the Takoma Park congregation was organized on Aug. 20, 1904. They rented quarters in Takoma Hall, a public meeting place. In 1907, the 151 congregants constructed their first building, which included a school. In 1914, a new 450-seat edifice was erected. The present Takoma Park Church opened Oct. 17, 1953. The former Sanitarium Church, which developed at the hospital, merged with the Takoma Park congregation in 1983, adding another 300 members.
A former president of the denomination, who was a member of the local congregation for more than 30 years, refers to the Takoma Park Church as “warm and loving.” Throughout its history it “has been a great witness for God’s message in this great metropolitan area,” says Neal C. Wilson, president of the world church from 1979 to 1990. The centennial celebration of the Adventist presence in Takoma Park has a particular dimension in the ministry of the Takoma Park Church congregation. Wilson says, “To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Takoma Park Church is certainly an honor and a privilege and we still believe that it has a great mission in the future.”
The feature Oct. 8 is “The Trial of Ellen White,” a dramatic production about Ellen G. White, messenger to the church. On Sabbath, or Saturday, Oct. 9, Jan Paulsen, world church president, will address the 1,300-member congregation. The world church office of Global Mission will give an afternoon presentation on the direction of the Adventist Church’s mission—both in Takoma Park and around the world. Weekend events will be telecast worldwide via the Adventist Television Network.