Built in 1854, the brick sanctuary replaced the original log church destroyed by fire earlier that year.The building likely served as a hospital after the Battle of Antietam in 1862. Records show that public buildings and homes in the town sheltered wounded Confederate soldiers after Robert E. Lee's troops retreated across the Potomac River to Virginia. At wars end, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Shepherdstown separated, New Street continued to serve the congregation of the northern faction, while southern supporters constructed a new building on German Street (War Memorial Building). Reuniting in the 1940's the congregations selected New Street as their home and continues today to honor and praise God.