Church of the Brethren, Unsung Brethren W. Scott Reichard

15 South Mulberry Street
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
301-733-3565

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Hagerstown Church of the Brethren is to celebrate the love of Jesus Christ and glorify the
Lord by striving to live as Christ lived, experiencing the power of God's healing in our lives. We seek to nurture
our faith community through prayer, music and the proclaimed Word, while enthusiastically reaching out to
others with compassion, respect and love for everyone so that we may grow in faith and commitment together.

VISION STATEMENT
Journeying with Christ - Serving Our Neighbors - Uniting at the Master’s Table

Unsung Brethren

Elder Winfield Scott Reichard was born November 5, 1847, in Washington
County, Maryland. His parents, John and Julia Ann Ringer Reichard,
owned and operated the Arch Spring Nursery in Tilghmanton near Lappan’
s Crossroads along the Sharpsburg Pike. With Tilghmanton just north of
Sharpsburg, 15-year-old Reichard would have witnessed the devastating
aftermath of the Battle of Antietam.

Scott Reichard received his education from local public schools and
graduated from the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Millersville,
Lancaster County.

Reichard married Louisa (Loutie) B. Funk on November 24, 1874. Louisa
gave birth to four children, Christie, John, Ada and Lawson. W. S.
Reichard became a member of the German Baptist Church (later called
Church of the Brethren) in 1875 and three years later was called to the
ministry.

Scott took over the Arch Spring Nursery from his aging father until 1881,
when moving his family to Hagerstown where engaging in the grocery
business with a former neighbor from Tilghmanton, J. H. Jones.

During most of his life Reichard kept a diary recording local events
including the May 1889, Johnstown Flood. The twenty volumes, however,
are mostly centered around church and family. The last entry recorded –
December 1923 – deals with his failing health.

Coming from the Manor Church of the Brethren around 1883, W. Scott
Reichard and Elder Hiram Wolf along with ten or twelve members, began
holding services in the old Junior Fire Hall on North Potomac Street in
Hagerstown. The following year a larger building was loaned “free of
cost” to the new congregation on East Franklin Street. In October 1885,
Elder Wolf and family left Hagerstown and moved west, leaving the
ministry in the hands of W. S. Reichard who was ordained to the Eldership
of the Church of the Brethren in 1894.

With a rapidly growing congregation, the Hagerstown Brethren decided
to build their own church. On May 17, 1897, the worshippers purchased a
building lot on the corner of East Washington and South Mulberry Streets
for $2,150.00. Ground was broken May 29, 1897. A building contract called
for, “a building of brick, roofed with slate, Indiana limestone window and
door sills with a native limestone foundation.” The group continued to
grow within the new sanctuary under the leadership of Elder Reichard
and in the late 1800’s, reported to have a membership of 250 and a “large
and prosperous Sunday-School.”

Elder W. Scott Reichard