The Towson United Methodist Church is a large United Methodist church located in the historic suburb of Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland. It was first established in 1839, when Methodist Episcopal Minister Daniel Helpler dedicated and inaugurated the Epsom chapel for Towsontown's first public church service. In 1968, the church adopted its current name to reflect the merger of the United Brethren Methodist and Evangelical denominations in the United States. The Towson United Methodist Church is an L-shaped structure, with the main sanctuary on a north-south axis.
Completed in 1958, the church is built of red brick in Georgian architectural style, with a prominent illuminated spire crowned by a 9-foot (3 m) porcelain-enameled gold cross visible from a distance of 3 m (3 to 3 km) in the Manera bell tower. It also features a 3-manual, 49-range 2,516-tube Casavant pipe organ, including seven 16-foot rows. The Methodist movement grew rapidly in the United States before the Civil War, but was plagued by disputes over slave ownership and the domination of the church by bishops, leading to a formal division into two groups in 1844. Despite this split, local Methodists in Towson continued to worship together at the Epsom Chapel until the end of World War II in 1945. After this time, attendance at the main Protestant church in the U. S.
increased significantly. In April 1952, more than ninety years after the two churches separated, the congregations of both finally voted in favor of reunification and merged on June 1, 1952 under the name Towson Methodist Church. To celebrate this great revival, both groups came together in 1895. The chairman of the church's construction committee had advanced his personal funds to complete the construction and was subsequently involved in years of litigation with the church. Today, the Towson United Methodist Church sponsors a Boy Scout troop, missions abroad, and is actively involved in Habitat for Humanity projects.
It also runs Susanna Wesley House for single mothers. The Towson United Methodist Church has a long and rich history that has been shaped by its commitment to serving its community and providing spiritual guidance to its members. Its mission is to provide a place for people to come together and worship God while also engaging in meaningful service projects that benefit their local community.
