Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

The Papers of Merton Elbridge Church, 1866-1956, Accession #8518-e , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the Library by Ms. Beverley T. Steadman of Culpeper, Virginia, through Jerry N. Showalter of Ivy, Virginia, on May 10, 1988.

Biographical/Historical Information

The following pages were taken directly from the History of Virginia Volume VI Virginia Biography , published in 1924 by The American Historical Society, pp. 198-199.

Scope and Content Information

The papers of Merton Elbridge Church (1858-?) of Falls Church, Virginia, consist of ca. 1200 items (5 Hollinger boxes, 1.5 linear feet), 1866-1929, 1937-1956, chiefly legal papers and business correspondence pertaining to his real estate business, his public utility interests, and his other business interests in the Falls Church area.

This collection, while not furnishing a complete record of Church's contribution to the economic development of the Falls Church area, does have material which gives witness to the variety and depth of his business and community interests. Church organized the Falls Church Improvement Company which developed the first subdivision to be placed on the market in Fairfax County, the Sherwood Subdivision (see Ryder file). He also developed the Farlee Subdivision (see Lerch Brothers file).

He served as editor of the Falls Church Moniter newspaper, and was president of several utility companies. The Arlington Electric Company records are especially represented in the collection. He was responsible for the business and legal interests of many individuals with his company, Real Estate, Loans & Insurance. For a list of these people or organizations, please consult the box listing at the end of this guide.

Prior to his return to China as an educational missionary in the fall of 1924, Percy Tripp made the Falls Church Bank his depository and enpowered it to conduct his business affairs. Church was the largest stockholder in the Falls Church Bank and several of his files deal with the legal or business affairs of Tripp.

Two of the letters in Tripp's business correspondence describe contemporary events in China. In an early letter, Tripp discusses his prospects for teaching English, his trip to China, the coup d' etat at Peking by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his Kuomingtang Party, the withdrawal of General Wu's forces, and makes an uncomplimentary statement about the United States (November 1, 1924).

Another letter furnishes a detailed description of protests by Chinese students and the British massacre of Chinese students in Shanghai. The Chinese students were protesting the treatment of Chinese workers in the Japanese-run cotton mills, when the British police, present in Shanghai because of the International Settlement of Shanghai, opened fire upon a crowd (June 13, 1925). Tripp also comments about British propaganda concerning the event and other evidences of British imperialism, such as the attempt to enact municipal regulations of benefit to British citizens and detrimental to Chinese merchants. For Church's comments about the massacre see the letter of August 14, 1925.

Miscellaneous material includes printed church bulletins, stock certificates, the commission of M.E. Church as 2nd Lt. in the Cavalry of the United States Army (June 14, 1935), unidentified photographs, and a trustee certificate for the Falls Church Sunday School Baseball Association.