St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (1770), Hagerstown’s first church, was established only a few years after the founding of Elizabethtown. Early services were held in un-heated rooms. In 1852 the church entered into an agreement with the First Hose Company to occupy fifteen feet of ground fronting on South Potomac Street until 1870 when remodeling plans were initiated. In 1881 First Hose moved a few doors north to its present location at 31/33 South Potomac Street