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Interior of the building with intentionally visible building materials.

This building replaced a prior Romanesque Revival structure, which stood from 1907 until 1951. Photo from 1911.

A group of students at the previous church building.

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Clarksburg’s First United Methodist congregation is almost as old as the city itself, having been officially established in 1822. This church is one of five that have stood on or near the site over the past two centuries. The direct predecessor of the current structure was built in 1907. It was a Romanesque Revival building designed by Wilbur T. Mills, a Columbus, Ohio based architect. When the church burned down in 1951, the congregation commissioned Harold E. Wagoner to design a replacement. Wagoner worked out of Pittsburgh and was famous for his Methodist church commissions; he even served on the Methodist Bureau of Architecture board. Wagoner’s design for the current First United Methodist Church is Gothic Revival in style. This is expressed through the pointed arches, crenellated towers, and large expanses of unadorned walls. On the interior, the limestone foundation, stone walls, and oak rafters are beautifully visible. Stained glass windows created in 1965 by the Willet Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania provide splashes of color and light. Though the First United Methodist Church certainly honors a previously established canon of church architecture, features like a slender metal spire help modernize the building.

First United Methodist Church

Thanks to the wide variety of immigrants who comprised the local population in its early days, Clarksburg developed an equally wide variety of religious communities. This tour includes seven historic places of worship for seven different Christian denominations. Be sure to visit the Clarksburg Visitors’ Bureau for more information about this tour or the city.

Clarksburg’s Central Christian Church, also known as the Disciples of Christ, was established in 1905. By 1907, the church had erected this handsome Romanesque Revival structure. The main body of the building stands three-stories tall, with the larger of the two towers reaching four stories. A rich red brick is the primary construction material and an excellent complement to the lighter stone engaged columns. The building is characterized by flat planes broken up with windows of a variety of shapes and sizes. Windows are rectangular, round, or capped with a pointed arch. All of them share the common denominator of stone lintels on all sides. The building has changed extremely little since the early twentieth century. The roof appears to have been replaced somewhat recently, but the building would be immediately recognizable to any member of the Central Christian Church congregation at any point in time. 

Central Christian Church

The congregation of the Clarksburg Baptist Church formed in 1848 as the First Baptist Church of Clarksburg. During the organization’s earliest years, services were held in the Harrison County Courthouse while a permanent structure was completed. This structure was a simple one and a half story brick building. The brick church served the First Baptist Church of Clarksburg until 1896, when construction was completed on the current church building. It was also around this time that the congregation changed their name to Clarksburg Baptist Church. The current structure was completed at a cost of $6,000 — a little shy of $200,000 adjusted for inflation. The building is Gothic Revival in style and features a number of unique features. A square belfry vertically dominates the center of the church’s facade and was a departure from other structures of the time. The unornamented brick walls are a complementary match for the highly decorative pointed arch windows. Though the stylistically distinct section of the building to the left of the belfry appears to have been built at a different time than the rest of the structure, it is original. In fact, the only significant architectural modification was the addition of the Judson Center, a 1951 annex. Clarksburg Baptist Church continues to use this location for worship.

Clarksburg Baptist Church

When Reverend William Ward arrived in Clarksburg in the mid-1930s, he was the first Episcopal minister in the area. Though he stayed only a few years, it was long enough to establish ties to central Episcopal administration. In 1852, Reverend Robert A. Castleman, a newly ordained deacon, was sent to Clarksburg as a missionary. By this time, Clarksburg had a sizable Episcopal population but no permanent place of worship. Castleman ardently pursued financing a physical place of worship while working to expand the parish. Construction on the Christ Episcopal Church began just months after Castleman’s arrival in Clarksburg.Beyond soliciting donations from the new church, Castleman was also heavily involved in the design and construction. Apocryphal accounts suggest that Castleman modeled the structure on a parish church near Dublin, Ireland. While this claim is tenuous given the church’s Greek and Gothic Revival architecture, it is clear that Castleman participated in ways such as hand-selecting lumber. During an 1855 visit from an Episcopal bishop, the visiting clergyman praised Castleman for his, “indefatigable efforts.” The same bishop also consecrated the site on April 20th, 1856. Unfortunately, Castleman was not present to revel in the fruits of his labor for long; the deacon departed Clarksburg in 1858.The Christ Episcopal Church is a moderately Gothic Revival structure. The defining features are tall lancet windows and a three-stage crenellated tower on the facade. Ornamentation on the exterior is kept to a minimum and large flat planes define the walls. While the church certainly belongs to the canon of Gothic Revival, the basic proportions and placement of features on the building are reminiscent of Greek Revival architecture more so than Gothic. The placement of the tower in the center of the facade, rather than on a side, is particularly revealing of the Greek Revival influence. The simple whitewashed exterior was the standard for Christian churches of almost all denominations, and the Christ Episcopal Church maintains this aspect to today.Following Castleman’s departure from Clarksburg, church services were limited to a bi-montly schedule. When the Union Army occupied the area around Clarksburg in 1861 — mostly over fears that Confederate raids would aim to disrupt rail lines in the area — the Christ Episcopal Church was requisitioned to garrison Union troops. This led to significant interior damage and regular services were not resumed until 1872. In 1891, Christ Episcopal Church began expanding in several ways. It acquired the rectory adjacent to the church and also expanded the main church building. This renovation was completed in 1893 and included enlarging the altar area, adding a vestry room and pipe organ, removing upper slave galleries, and moving pews to create a central aisle. At some point in the late nineteenth century the church also acquired a large bell. It was made in 1870 by Meneely Bell Foundry in West Troy, New York and rung before church services.The third and final structure to complete the Christ Episcopal Church cluster is the parish house. A.P. Gladden, a Clarksburg based architect, designed the first version of this building which was completed in 1910. Just a few years later, in 1925, the parish house was completely reconstructed according to plans by Boston architects Cram and Ferguson. The new parish used a tapestry brick design and has a Jacobethan architectural style. The Christ Episcopal Church buildings have changed extremely little since 1925. The only major changes to any of the buildings have been the addition of stained glass memorial windows in the main church building. With over one hundred sixty years of use, the Christ Episcopal Church is the oldest religious facility in Harrison County to continuously host the same denomination.

The Christ Episcopal Church was built in the early 1850s to serve the growing Episcopal population in Clarksburg. It is the oldest religious structure in Harrison County to be continuously used by the same denomination. The structure is Gothic Revival in style, though with heavy Greek Revival influence. A rectory and parish house also exist on church grounds. During the Civil War, the main church building was used to garrison Union soldiers. A major renovation altered the church in the early 1890s and the parish was last changed in 1925. Other than the addition of memorial stained glass windows, Christ Episcopal Church appears much as it did in the early twentieth century. 

Christ Episcopal Church

Clarksburg Presbyterian congregation officially formed in 1829. Many of Clarksburg’s most historied families, such as the Coplin, Moore, and Davis families, were all members of the congregation during its earliest years. By 1834, a subscription paper had begun circulating with the intent to fund a physical church building. Congregation members donated materials and services such as “$12.00 in shingles,” and “$5 in Blacksmithing.” Waldo P. Goff, the owner of Clarksburg’s most famous home, Waldomore, donated an ambiguous “$20.00 in goods.” Robert Wilson of Greene County, Pennsylvania performed a bulk of the construction work to create a simple brick structure. The first pastor, Reverend Asa Brooks, had his salary paid through the renting of pews. The closest rows were $12 a year while prices decreased for further pews, down to $4 a year. When the church acquired a music budget it included provisions for a harmonium, violin, bass viol, and flute. In 1893, the congregation had outgrown the original brick structure, so it was  demolished. It was replaced with a much larger building that still stands today. The First Presbyterian Church is typical of late nineteenth century Gothic Revival architecture. A sharply pointed tower stands at the corner of the building, rather than in the center. Large ornate windows feature pointed arches and mullions. A simple gabled roof is supported by equally unornamented dentils. Other than a well-hidden 1952 addition, the First Presbyterian Church has maintained its facade for over a century.

First Presbyterian Church

The first record of a Catholic population in Clarksburg appeared in 1856. Irish immigrants escaping the Great Famine were hired to work on the westward expansion of railroads between Baltimore and Ohio. Already largely inclined towards the Catholic faith, these immigrants were particularly devout, as they brought nothing with them and the need for community was strong. For several years, Clarksburg’s Catholic population was religiously serviced by intermittently travelling priests, who came from places as far flung as Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Cumberland, Maryland; and Weston, West Virginia. As the Clarksburg congregation continued to grow, priests from Weston visited monthly to conduct services in private homes. Seeing the need for a more permanent solution, Clarksburg was granted its own parish in 1864. Father Daniel O’Connor, previously the priest at Weston, was appointed pastor in the new parish.One of Father O’Connor’s first projects in Clarksburg was the establishment of a permanent place of worship. With the help of the Diocese of Wheeling, he purchased a fair amount of land from Major James Jackson. The land was on the east side of Elk Creek, and the modern day intersection of Pike Street and Sandy Boulevard was chosen for the place of worship itself. Despite the impoverished nature and small size of the congregation, $12,000 dollars were raised in short order to fund construction. This feat is especially impressive when one considers that the fundraising also occurred during the final stages of the Civil War. The church was built primarily of brick — two hundred thousand of them were directly made on the property. Construction continued through 1865. On August 5th, roughly one year after the Clarksburg parish was established, the church was completed and officially dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The relatively large building was classical in style with heavy Italian influence. It featured a simple axial plan, though no clerestory, only a gabled roof.Though the original Immaculate Conception Church served the Clarksburg congregation well for many years, by the 1920s, it was no longer adequate. The old building was demolished and a new enormous Italian Romanesque structure took its place. E.J. Weber, a noted Pittsburgh architect of Catholic churches, was contracted to design the Immaculate Conception Church building. Weber drew from Italian churches to plan the current Immaculate Conception Church. The architect specifically cited the Church of San Zeno in Verona, Italy as one his most important influences for the Immaculate Conception Church. This influence can be seen in the general shape of the facade, as well as in the recessed campanile on the right side, though Weber’s campanile is attached while San Zeno’s is detached. With the exception of St. Joseph Cathedral in Wheeling, the Immaculate Conception building is the largest and most spectacular Catholic church in West Virginia. The building’s significance is underlined by its inclusion in the March 1926 issue of The Architect. The Architect was a New York City based nationwide scholarly architectural publication that included only “the best work being produced in America.”1 That the Immaculate Conception Church was chosen for inclusion is testament to the design and physical craftsmanship on display.The Immaculate Conception Church draws heavily from a previously established canon of church architecture. The triangles and clean lines of the front facade recall the geometric architectural forms of the Renaissance. A deeply recessed entry arch bounds a rose window and is capped by a bracketed cornice. A huge campanile — or bell tower — is set to the right and slightly back from the facade. Despite its auxiliary location, the campanile looms over the church and its surroundings. The interior of the building maintains basilican parallels seen on the exterior. Smooth Romanesque columns support an unornamented barrel vault. The focal point of the nave ends at a freestanding marble ciborium which covers the altar. Stained glass windows were custom made and shipped from the Franz Mayer’sche Hofkunstandstalt studio in Munich, Germany. The new Immaculate Conception Church was completed in 1925 and dedicated on October 19th. The exterior of the Immaculate Conception Church has remained relatively unaltered over the years. The interior however, was restored in 1977 in accord with new dictates promulgated by the Second Vatican Council. As part of this restoration, a nearby Immaculate Conception mission church was closed and its bell was transferred to the main Immaculate Conception Church. It can now be seen near the front right of the building. The congregation of Immaculate Conception Church has also evolved over the years. Clarksburg was once home to two other Catholic parishes. The Holy Rosary Catholic Church was frequented by Clarksburg’s Slovak community, while the Holy Trinity Church was composed primarily of Polish immigrants. Due to declining attendance and limited priests, both congregations dissolved and merged with the Immaculate Conception congregation in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The Immaculate Conception Church continues to be the focal point for the Catholic community of Clarksburg.

The Immaculate Conception Church is West Virginia’s second-largest space for Catholic Worship. Clarksburg’s Catholic community was officially established in 1864 and was composed primarily of Irish immigrants. This building was finished in 1925 and replaced a previous church. Architect E.J. Weber designed the building and was lauded with critical acclaim for his work. The Italian Romanesque structure incorporates influences from other international Catholic churches, such as the Church of San Zeno in Verona, Italy. A massive campanile towers over the already imposing Immaculate Conception Church, making the entire building one of the most distinctive landmarks in the area. The church remains in use for Catholic worship services.


Immaculate Conception Church

The St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church is the largest Greek Orthodox congregation in the area, servicing Clarksburg, Bridgeport, Buckhannon, Elkins, Fairmont, Grafton, Parkersburg, and Weston residents. This area of Summit Parks was once known as “Greek Town” due to the high concentration of Greek immigrants living there. A cornerstone was laid for the relatively modest building in 1918. Construction on the primarily brick building took about two years. Exterior ornamentation is sparse, though the interior includes a plethora of icons and reliefs hand-carved by congregation members. The structure as a whole is defined by its central tower, a hallmark of Greek Orthodox architecture. The St. Spyridon congregation acquired its name as the church was completed just a few days before St. Spyridon’s feast day, December 12th. Following renovations in 1986, the site was officially consecrated. Pittsburgh Stained Glass Studios, who also provided the original 1918 windows, are currently working to replace panes throughout the building. St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church continues to celebrate not only the Greek Orthodox faith but also Greek culture in general through food festivals and other events.

Clarksburg Historic Places of Worship

First United Methodist Church

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