Blast From The Past: October2025

From The October2000 Issue

St. John’s Celebrates 275 Years as a Parish

By Linda Reynolds

On Sunday, September 17, 2000, the Rev. Katherine Jordan, rector, and he parishioners of St. John’s Episcopal Church celebrated their 275^th Anniversary as an Anglican parish in this area. Although the current church building on the corner of Powder Mill Road and Route 1 is approximately 120 years old, the parish itself is 275 years old.

The celebration took place at a brunch following Sunday services in St. John’s parish hall. Parishioners were seated according to the decade during which they arrived at St. John’s with decades from the 1930’s through the year 2000 represented. At each table the past was shared through stories; the present celebrated through fellowship and the future looked forward to hope and trust on God’s grace.

Representatives from each table were invited to come forward and summarize the discussions from their group. There were many laughs and a few tears as shared memories of events and people were related. One of our newer parishioners representing the table from the 1990’s and later, Dr. Funsho Fam, spoke very movingly of the warmth, welcome and the inclusiveness which he and his family experienced when they came to St. John’s. It is the hope of the rector and the people that this will be the experience of all who come through our doors.

According to parishioner Bill Shook, who compiled a brief history of the occasion, in 1692 the Maryland General Assembly passed the “Act of Establishment,” making the church of England the official church in the state. The Act required that thirty parishes be laid out; thirteen on the Eastern Shore and seventeen on the Western Shore. One of the parishes that was set up was Piscataway Parish, St. John’s Broad Creek. This whole region was part of that parish. In 1726 this area was encompassed into Prince George’ Parish, a new parish.