McCabe Memorial Church, also known as Iglesia Metodista Unida de la Playa de Ponce, is a historic church building in

Barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

Playa in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

. It dates from 1908, and was designed by

Antonin Nechodoma Antonin Nechodoma (1877–1928), was a Czech architect who practiced in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic from 1905 to 1928. He is known for the introduction of the Prairie Style to the Caribbean and the integration of Arts and Crafts elements to ...

. It was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008. It is one of four places such listed in Barrio Playa, the others being the U.S. Customs House, the

Caja de Muertos Light Caja de Muertos Light, (''Faro de la Isla de Caja de Muertos'') is an 1887 lighthouse in Ponce, Puerto Rico, that is unique amongst all other lighthouses in Puerto Rico for its unusual Cross of Lorraine, double-arm, T-type shape structure. The ...

, and the

Cardona Island Light Cardona Island Light (also known as Faro del Puerto de Ponce or Cayo Cardona Light) is the only 6th order lighthouse in Puerto Rico with a cylindrical attached tower. The light is located on Cardona Island, a small island on the west side of th ...

Construction

The church is built in the

Neo Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

heritage. It has a concrete foundation and walls, and a wood and corrugated metal roof. Built in 1908, the church was built as a

house of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

for the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

congregation in Playa de Ponce. The roof was originally built of wood shingles. The church was named in memory of well-beloved Methodist Bishop

Charles Cardwell McCabe Charles Cardwell McCabe (October 11, 1836 – December 20, 1906), also known as "Bishop" C. C. McCabe and Chaplain C. C. McCabe, was an American who distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor, an Army chaplain during the American Civil War, a Ch ...

, who died shortly before its construction (at a time, also, when the Methodist Church in Puerto Rico was a missional outreach of the Methodist Church in U.S.A.).

History

The church was built at this location because of the prominent commercial role that the Playa barrio played in the early nineteenth century. For this reason the La Playa barrio also had fisheries, schools, hospitals, a cemetery, and a population of 5,169 distributed through a residential area dominated by wooden houses. There was also a Catholic church, the Virgen del Carmen Catholic Church, built there in 1882. "The vital importance of the

Port of Ponce The Rafael Cordero Santiago Port of the Americas es, Puerto de las Américas Rafael Cordero Santiago (PLA) is a megaport currently under construction in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The project aims to convert the current Port of Ponce into a value-add ...

explains why it was targeted as an early site for the missionary work of the new

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

churches that came to Puerto Rico, immediately after the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

of 1898." The church lot was acquired on March 31, 1906, after a donation of $400 by Bishop Charles McCabe Church construction began in 1907, and finished in 1908, at a final cost of $4,500. The locals christened the new church as ''La Iglesia Metodista de la Playa de Ponce'' (The Ponce Playa Methodist Church).

Through the years

In 1928 the San Felipe hurricane partly destroyed the church. It was quickly rebuilt by the locals, with the guidance of Catholic parish priest Gonzalo Noel.Aida Belen Rivera Ruiz, Certifying Official, and Juan Llanes Santos, Preparer, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) February 26, 2008. In ''National Register of Historic Places Registration Form''. United States Department of the Inferior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 19. Listing Reference Number 08000283. April 11, 2008. Through the years, the locals, regardless of religious affiliation "have embraced the McCabe Methodist church as one of their icons". In 1946, the church inaugurated the McCabe Memorial School, and locals sent their children there regardless of religious orientation. The original facility was known as the Robinson Methodist School, but was later changed to Rev. Julia Torres School, in honor of a local teacher and religious leader. In 1960, Reverend Julia Torres, born in La Playa, became the first woman in Puerto Rico to be ordained as a Methodist minister. She directed both the church and the school for almost 12 years.Aida Belen Rivera Ruiz, Certifying Official, and Juan Llanes Santos, Preparer, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) February 26, 2008. In ''National Register of Historic Places Registration Form''. United States Department of the Inferior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 20. Listing Reference Number 08000283. April 11, 2008.

Significance

The McCabe Memorial Church embodies the wide historic process of the establishment of the Protestant factions in Puerto Rico. In this respect, it defied the monopolistic control of the Catholic Church that had prevailed during the Spanish sovereignty over the Island. The church broke previous barriers as to the ideological separation of Church and State, when the opposite was the normal daily experience in Puerto Rican life. The church is also associated with an important icon of twentieth-century Puerto Rican architecture of the time, Antonin Nechodoma.

References

External links