 Construction was funded by a gift of $150,000 from his widow, Isabella McLanahan Brown, an amount equivalent to more than $4 million in 2009.George Brown was described by a Baltimore historian as a successful businessman and civic leader who "regarded religion as preeminent above all other things and loved his church with all the ardor of his noble nature".John Sparhawk Jones was the church's first pastor, serving from 1870 to 1884.