St. John's By-the-Sea at 25th Street and Avalon Avenue. Photo by Leslie Truluck.

AVALON –– St. John’s By-the-Sea will commemorate its 100th year of worship Aug. 24 at 9 a.m. with a Eucharist service followed by an outdoor reception in memory of the late Rev. Canon James L. Moore, Sr. and in recognition of some recent gifts.

The seasonal Protestant Episcopal Church holds services from June though September with a new transient priest preaching every month. The church is able to host the ministers and their families in its neighboring rectory.

St. John’s has had a wealth of history since its early beginnings in 1908 at the inception of the Women’s Guild of St. John’s Church, a group of women volunteers who did fundraising work to gain a permanent place of worship. The guild still exists today, but has evolved into the Women’s Altar Guild, a women’s volunteer group who prepare the altar for services.

The congregation pre-exists the church building, which wasn’t built until six years later in 1914. Before the congregation found its home on 25th Street here, services were held at Avalon Hotel, Peermont Methodist Church, Wells Memorial Church, Hotel Sherwood or in private homes.

These early services are said to be the result of Cornelius Mahan, known to be one of the founders of this resort town. Mahan was a catalyst in establishing the church by introducing Rev. Hubert Cook of Holy Trinity Church in Ocean City to services held here at Peermont Methodist Church. Cook deposited $5 into the First National Bank of Ocean City as the beginning of a building fund.

In 1913, John Canfield donated the two lots on which the church now stands and an authentic stained glass “Tiffany” window representing Jesus Christ calming ocean waves by world famous craftsman Louis Comfort Tiffany. Canfield is also credited with having named the church.

Other notable contributions to the church include that of Isabella Himmelmann who donated half of her estate to St. John’s and the other half to the Avalon Free Public Library in 1986.

The church continues to thrive on donations, but also provides for others in need.
“Every year we have an outreach program to give money to four other Episcopal churches,” Guild member Joan Brenner said.
Joan and her husband Ralph volunteer their time preparing services, cleaning and doing whatever is needed at the church.

“We are like God’s handmaids,” Joan said.
She also credits Joan Cantley for keeping the operation running smoothly.

“This is such a small personal church in the sense that we know every parishioner, even those who come down for a short period,” Ralph said.

In order to keep track of its visitors, the church began a registry in the early 1930s. Found in that registry dated 1937, are members of the Ocean Wave Camp, an army camp for pre-teen aged boys in the one-time army barracks here in the dunes on Avalon Avenue. The boys’ camp would march to the church and attend services regularly until the camp was closed in 1944 during a widespread polio epidemic.

Much of this history went unknown until borough resident Robert Frank, 81, recently approached the Brenners with photographs of the boys’ camp, which inspired Joan to look for the boys’ names in the church’s registry, where she found Frank’s name among the boys attending from camp.

The current Board of Trustees’ President, James Moore, Jr., is the son of the late Rev. Moore, Sr. who preached at St. John’s for over 37 years.

Today Rev. Russell Griffin has been returning to the borough for 21 years.

“It’s a very old church here that deserves recognition because many probably don’t know its history and it’s truly a jewel here,” Ralph said.

The 100-year history of the church continues to be a source of pride for its congregation and they invite the public to join in their celebration this Sunday.

Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 ext. 24 or at: ltruluck @cmcherald.com.