Gary Memorial United Methodist Church is important to Howard County and the State of Maryland historically, as a part of the local history of Daniels, Maryland and architecturally, as a fine example of Howard County Gothic brick architecture.



ABOUT THE CURCH BUILDING…
Historically, the church is a part of the history of Daniels, once known as Elysville, after the Elysville Company, who acquired the “Limestone Valley” tract and part of another tract called “John’s Beginning” from Thomas Ely in 1836, constructing a three story stone mill, designed by a Mr. Timanus here in 1841. In 1846 the Okisko Manufacturimg Company bought the mill and in 1853 Alberton Manufacturing Company was incorporated and acquired the Okisko Company.
The Elysville Post Office was renamed Alberton in 1854. By 1856, according to an article by Ms. Joan Collins on Daniels in the September, 1979 Heritage, a publication of Historic Ellicott City, “the community consisted of the mill, an oakum factory, a store, church, school, and 106 inhabitants”. The Alberton Manufacturing Company was short lived, first acquired by the Sagoman Manufacturing Company and in 1858, by the James S. Gary and Son Manufacturing company, after James S. Gary, one of the Sagoman directors, who took over the company. A son, James A. Gary , and a Grandson, E. Stanley Gary both served in the family’s manufacturing firm.
The Gary Memorial Methodist Church was constructed in 1879 as a memorial to his father, James S. Gary by his son James A. Gary. According to Ms. Collins, Mr. Gary, senior was a “self-made” man, who began working at the age of five, following his own father’s death. James Albert Gary, his son, was born in Connecticut in 1833 served for a brief time as Post Master-General under President McKinley. Not only did James A. Gary have the Methodist Church built, but he also advised a theological student at Woodstock College, Father Van Krivel, that a lot and $750 would be donated toward the establishment of a Catholic Mission at Alberton, which became St. Stanislas Kostka.
Ms. Collins relates that in winter, the priest would skate down the river, conduct Sunday Service, and skate back to Woodstock. Not only is Gary Memorial Methodist Church significant in the local history of the community, which is now called Daniels, but it is also a notable eclectic structure of the late nineteenth century, blending Howard County granite block architecture with the Gothic Revival Style of that period, and a flavor of the Medieval French Style in its conical roofed, entrance-belfry tower, the roof of which seems to float above the tower, with this visual impression caused by the corbeled brick cornice at the base of the conical roof of the tower. Fine brick work is seen throughout the building, which “features several brick belt courses around the perimeters of the tower, the main building block, the apse and the tripartite entry section. A fine water table, decorated with a brick belt course is another fine detail, as well as the gothic arched, splayed brick lintels decorated with diamond shaped keystones, and terminations, which decorate each of the
windows.
Notable both historically and architecturally, the Gary Memorial Methodist Church, adjoining the National Register District of Daniels, Maryland, is one of Howard County’s
finest landmarks.