There was
reported, On This Day in 1880, a name dispute regarding a new church near the
Arcadia Station in Peach Bottom. An article in the Lancaster Daily
Intelligencer reads: “The colored people at Arcadia station on the Peach Bottom railroad,
are restless about the name by which their new church is called by some. They
have almost unanimously agreed to call it Mt.
Holly , notwithstanding the white trash
call it Arcadia .”
The article
includes a letter, from a brethren, to the Oxford paper. In that letter it is suggested
that the church members call it whatever they wish and that it be known as Mount Holly
at Arcadia Station. This brethren also refers to a town there named Rigby.
A brief history
of the church:
The History
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches by
Franklin Ellis and Samuel Evans also notes this church. They refer to it as
Rigby. Listed under “African Churches,” it refers to the church as being “…
located at Arcadia Station on the Peach Bottom Railroad. This last has been
long known the country through as ‘Rigby,’ …” It mentions also that the Rigby
Meeting is well attended by both white and colored.
Founded in 1837,
the church has undergone many name changes over the years. According to Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster
County , Pennsylvania A Complete
Guide by A. Hunter Rineer, Jr., Aaron Quimby provided land to the trustees
of the African Union Church (now known as the Union American Methodist
Episcopal Church). The land adjoined the land of Jarrett Rigby .
The church then became known as the Rigby
Union AME
Church . A cemetery
adjoined the meetinghouse. In 1876 land was deeded at Arcadia and a new church was built.
This new church would,
no doubt, be the one referred to as Mount
Holly or Arcadia . It is called Mount Sinai Union
AME Church .
The Arcadia
Station was served by the Lancaster Oxford and Southern Line. The line ran just
north of Arcadia Trace Road .
The station was located between Cherry
Hill Road to the east and Peach Bottom Road to the west. It is
located in Fulton
Township .
On
This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.
©
Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015
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