Corpus Christi-Jenkins Memorial Church

 

Corpus Christ-Jenkins Memorial Church -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

Corpus Christi-Jenkins Memorial Church is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first church in the United States to be named Corpus Christi, the first church in Baltimore to be built entirely of granite, and it is one of the few "memorial" Catholic churches in the country devoted to an individual or family. Corpus Christi Church was built a memorial to the Jenkins family, an old Baltimore family, prominent in business, philanthropy, church affairs and the arts. 

Thomas C. Jenkins -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

Thomas Courtney Jenkins was a banker and a railroad magnate.  He was born in 1802, the eldest son of William Jenkins and his wife Ellen Willcox.   Upon completing his studies at St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, he joined his father in the leather business in Baltimore.  In 1822 he was given an interest in the firm, but he left 6 years later to establish the "Poland and Jenkins" firm with Mr. Poland Adams.

Thomas C. Jenkins soon became a very successful business man.  In 1832 he became the director of the Mechanic’s Bank, a position he held for forty-nine years.  For many years he was also the director of the Savings Bank of Baltimore.  He was one of the original organizers of the Parkersburg and Central Ohio Railroad, the Northern Central Railway, and the Atlantic Coast Line.  He also organized the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, and became its first President.

Louisa Carrell Jenkins -- from In Memoriam Ellen Jenkins 1841-1908.

In 1829 he married Louisa Carrell from Philadelphia who had been a boarding student at Mother Seton’s School in Emmittsburg.  Of Irish descent, Louisa Carrell was the sister of George Aloysius Carrell who later became the first bishop of Covington, Kentucky.  The couple resided for many years at 608 North Calvert Street in what was then called Waterloo Row.  In 1851 they moved to 721 St. Paul Street.

Thomas and Louisa Jenkins were prominent members of the Catholic Church in Baltimore.  They were were very active in the church and its various causes.  Thomas Jenkins was one of the first pewholders and oldest member of the Board of Trustees of the Baltimore Cathedral (The Basilica).  He was an incorporator of St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum and St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.   His house frequently hosted many of the prelates of the church, especially during their attendance at the councils held in Baltimore.  He was an intimate friend of James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore and later Cardinal.

Thomas Jenkins retired from business in 1865.  He passed away on Christmas Eve in 1881.  His wife, Louisa Carrell, died a year later, but before she did, she asked her children to build a chapel in memory of their father.  The children fulfilled their mother’s wish by building one of the most beautiful churches in the archdiocese and dedicating it to the memory of both their parents.[1]

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[1] Joseph Willcox, Ivy Mils, 1729-1866: Willcox and allied families (Baltimore: Lucas Brothers, 1911), p. 87-89.