Sharp Street

One hundred years ago, the members of Sharp Street Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church gathered to dedicate their new Gothic Revival edifice, the first church built in Baltimore for an African-American congregation.Their spiritual descendants will gather in the same sanctuary today to celebrate a century at Dolphin and Etting streets."Sharp Street is literally the mother church of black Methodism in Baltimore, in Maryland and, in some sense, in the country," said the Rev. Bruce Haskins, the pastor.

The city's Department of Transportation has extended the closure of Howard Street between Lombard and Conway Streets until next Thursday. City workers are rebuilding the intersection near where Interstate 395 ends at the Camden Yards baseball stadium. Officials are encouraging motorists to use Sharp Street before the closure of Howard Street or take Lombard Street to southbound Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as an alternative to I-395.

On February 22, 2005 HARRIET M. BEASLY of Edgewood, MD. Friends may call at the WILLIAM C. BROWN COMMUNITY FUNERAL HOME, HARFORD, PA, 321 S. Philadelphia Blvd, Friday, 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. Mrs. Beasly will lie in state, Saturday, 10 A.M. at Sharp Street United Methodist Church, 11814 Eastern Avenue, where family will receive friends at 10:30. Funeral Service 11:00. Interment Sharp Street United Methodist Church Cemetery.

Ira V. Badham-Adams, a retired receptionist and longtime member of Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, died of a heart attack May 5 at a hospital in Jersey City, N.J. She was 92. Ira Virginia Badham was born in Baltimore and raised on McCulloh Street. She was a 1933 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and attended Howard University in Washington. During the 1940s, she was an office assistant for a Baltimore real estate company. During the 1960s, she was in housekeeping at what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center.

On August 16, 2007, ROSA LEE JOHNSON of Chase, MD; she is survived by nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the William C. Brown Community Brown Funeral Home, P.A., 321 S. Philadelphia Boulevard, Aberdeen, Tuesday 5 to 8 P.M. Family will receive friends on Wednesday, Sharp Street United Methodist church, 11814 Eastern Avenue at 10:30 A.M. Funeral service 11 A.M. Interment Sharp Street Church Cemetery.

On September 11, 2006, FLORENCE MURRAY. Friends may call the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Thursday after 2 P.M. Family will receive friends on Friday at Christ Spiritual Baptist Church, 813 S. Sharp Street at 11 A.M, followed by funeral service at 11:30 A.M.

The city's Department of Transportation has extended the closure of Howard Street between Lombard and Conway Streets until next Thursday. City workers are rebuilding the intersection near where Interstate 395 ends at the Camden Yards baseball stadium. Officials are encouraging motorists to use Sharp Street before the closure of Howard Street or take Lombard Street to southbound Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as an alternative to I-395.

It is not enough for the pastor of Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church to decry the cost of cleaning up neglected Mount Auburn Cemetery. It is not enough to have an occasional clean-up day so volunteers can mow grass, pull weeds, pick up (( trash and chase away rats.Sharp Street is responsible for the cemetery and Sharp Street should provide for the cemetery's perpetual care. But other churches and institutions should want to be involved. Mount Auburn is the first black cemetery founded in Maryland and an important part of state history.

Phenola V. Carroll, a former social worker who assisted in her husband's ministry in the United Methodist Church, died of cancer Wednesday at her daughter's home in Gainesville, Fla. She was 87.Mrs. Carroll, who lived in Bolton Hill before she moved to Gainesville two years ago, had worked as a caseworker for the New York City Department of Welfare from 1946 to 1956. After she moved to Baltimore, she was employed as a social worker assigned to the city housing department from 1956 to 1960.

Milton J. Carr, who had been a teacher and more recently an architect and builder, died Sunday at Bon Secours Hospital after a short illness. He was 88 and lived on McKean Avenue.Services for Mr. Carr will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Sharp Street United Methodist Church, Dolphin and Etting streets.He operated his own business, designing and building mostly houses from the mid-1940s until about 10 years ago, when he began serving only as a consultant.For about 20 years before going into business, he taught industrial arts at Booker T. Washington Junior High School.

On August 16, 2007, ROSA LEE JOHNSON of Chase, MD; she is survived by nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the William C. Brown Community Brown Funeral Home, P.A., 321 S. Philadelphia Boulevard, Aberdeen, Tuesday 5 to 8 P.M. Family will receive friends on Wednesday, Sharp Street United Methodist church, 11814 Eastern Avenue at 10:30 A.M. Funeral service 11 A.M. Interment Sharp Street Church Cemetery.

The hyphen that connects Baltimore and Washington in the name of the local body of United Methodists today represents more than just geographic borders. The character symbolizes the history of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of United Methodists, borne of the merger of two organizations that had overlapping physical boundaries and racial barriers. Segregation within individual Methodist churches began not long after the denomination was formally established in the United States at Baltimore's Lovely Lane Meeting House in 1784.

On September 11, 2006, FLORENCE MURRAY. Friends may call the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Thursday after 2 P.M. Family will receive friends on Friday at Christ Spiritual Baptist Church, 813 S. Sharp Street at 11 A.M, followed by funeral service at 11:30 A.M.

On February 22, 2005 HARRIET M. BEASLY of Edgewood, MD. Friends may call at the WILLIAM C. BROWN COMMUNITY FUNERAL HOME, HARFORD, PA, 321 S. Philadelphia Blvd, Friday, 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. Mrs. Beasly will lie in state, Saturday, 10 A.M. at Sharp Street United Methodist Church, 11814 Eastern Avenue, where family will receive friends at 10:30. Funeral Service 11:00. Interment Sharp Street United Methodist Church Cemetery.

Morris Chester Queen made his musical debut at age 9, playing the piano for the congregation at his family's church. Yesterday - 71 years later - the music was being played for him, a tribute to the man who has spent the past 55 years as music director at Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church. He missed just one Sunday service in all those years - and then only because his wife, Ovella, refused to let him go to church on the day he had been released from the hospital. "He believes in the best music he can present," said pianist Audrey Cyrus McCallum, who figures she has known Queen for 50 years.

The bodies resting under tall weeds and mounds of snow in Baltimore's oldest African-American cemetery are the former slaves, ministers, athletes and entrepreneurs who laid the foundation for the city's black community. But you wouldn't know from the look of it. The headstone of light heavyweight boxing champ Joseph Gans is prominent and well-kept at Mount Auburn Cemetery. But nearby stones of lesser-knowns are chipped and crooked. News reports from the past three decades have documented horrific conditions at what was once called "The City of the Dead for Colored People," including caskets and human remains periodically emerging from the earth.

Services for Milton J. Carr, who had been a teacher and more recently an architect and builder, will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Sharp Street United Methodist Church, Dolphin and Etting streets.Mr. Carr, who was 88 and lived on McKean Avenue, died Sunday at Bon Secours Hospital after a short illness.He operated his own business, designing and building mostly houses from the mid-1940s until about 10 years ago, when he began serving only as a consultant.For about 20 years before going into business, he taught industrial arts at the Booker T. Washington Junior High School.

Ira V. Badham-Adams, a retired receptionist and longtime member of Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, died of a heart attack May 5 at a hospital in Jersey City, N.J. She was 92. Ira Virginia Badham was born in Baltimore and raised on McCulloh Street. She was a 1933 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and attended Howard University in Washington. During the 1940s, she was an office assistant for a Baltimore real estate company. During the 1960s, she was in housekeeping at what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Phenola V. Carroll, a former social worker who assisted in her husband's ministry in the United Methodist Church, died of cancer Wednesday at her daughter's home in Gainesville, Fla. She was 87.Mrs. Carroll, who lived in Bolton Hill before she moved to Gainesville two years ago, had worked as a caseworker for the New York City Department of Welfare from 1946 to 1956. After she moved to Baltimore, she was employed as a social worker assigned to the city housing department from 1956 to 1960.

One hundred years ago, the members of Sharp Street Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church gathered to dedicate their new Gothic Revival edifice, the first church built in Baltimore for an African-American congregation.Their spiritual descendants will gather in the same sanctuary today to celebrate a century at Dolphin and Etting streets."Sharp Street is literally the mother church of black Methodism in Baltimore, in Maryland and, in some sense, in the country," said the Rev. Bruce Haskins, the pastor.