History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

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In 1898 Captain Frank Geise subscribed the sum of $500 and raised an additional $1,200 toward the erection of a church building on the site of the chapel. After its completion a congregation was organ- ized with about one hundred members, Rev. E. Bruce Lyttle, formerly a Presby- terian clergyman, was called to the pastor- ate of this congregation, which was then chartered as Memorial Reformed Church, in memory of Rev. J. O. Miller, D. D., who had recently died, while serving as pastor of Trinity Church. The congregation and Sunday School grew in numbers, and in 1907 the church contained 225 members,

With the rapid expansion of the city of York, early in the year 1897, ministers and mem- bers of the Reformed Church felt that a congregation should be established in the southwestern section of the city. In August of that year a com- mittee purchased a site at the corner of West Princess Street and Hawthorne Ave- nue. At the annual meeting of Zion's Classis in April of the following year steps were taken to engage in active work. This included authorizing the committee to erect a suitable building and secure a missionary

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

for the field. Within a month a missionary York Borough. On the afternoon of that was secured in the person of Rev. A. Theo- day, the pastor of the Grace Reformed dore Wright, just graduated from the Ur- Church, the Rev. H. M. J. Klein, with the sinus School of Theology. The field was Consistory and friends, gathered in the school house at Eberton, corner of Adams and Stanton Streets, and effected an organ- ization. The following officers were chosen : canvassed and after a temporary frame structure was erected on July 24, 1898, a Sunday School was organized. Regular services were held by the pastor and the work of erecting a permanent structure was begun. The corner stone of the church was

Superintendent, Elder E. A. Rice; Assist- ant Superintendent. A. D. Greenawald ; Sec- laid August 14, 1898. The work of build- retary, George Yeager; Treasurer, William ing was carried forward rapidly during the F. Wiest.

Soon thereafter a desire was expressed

latter part of the summer, so that on De.

cember II a portion of it was ready for oc- for the establishment of a congregation.

cupancy. The way was now prepared for At a special meeting of Zion's Classis, held in Trinity Reformed Church, York, on October 12, 1903, a committee was ap- pointed to accomplish this end. The com- mittee consisted of Rev. H. M. J. Klein, chairman; Revs. H. H. Apple, O. P. Shell- a permanent organization which was effect- ed December 19, 1898, with twenty-one charter members. Reuben Rawhauser and Harry B. Picking were elected elders and William H. Ruby, William Hoffman, Bert L. Wantz, Robert E. Jacobs, deacons. The hamer and Elder E. A. Rice. The commit- work of completing the church was contin- ued during the following summer and on October 15, 1899, was formally dedicated.

Rev. A. T. Wright continued pastor for another year, when he withdrew to accept a call to a field in Virginia. Rev. George S. Sorber was elected as his successor, and assumed the work on December 1, 1900.

tee met the petitioners in the Eberton school house on October 27, 1903, and organized them into a congregation. About fifty names were enrolled. . The first officers chosen by the congregation were, elders, William F. Wiest and John C. Ernst; dea- cons, Jacob H. Crist and Peter Weigle.

On November 1, 1903, Rev. Robert Lee At this time the roll of membership had Bair, then pastor of St. John's Reformed risen to sixty and that of the Sunday School Church, Wyoming, Delaware, was elected . to eighty. The members received the new pastor. At a meeting of Zion's Classis, the pastor cordially and the . growth of the new congregation of Eberton, which took congregation continued. Along with the upon itself the name of St. Stephen's Church, was constituted, together with the new Emmanuel's Reformed Church, of East York, one pastoral charge, and the call of both congregations to Rev. Robert Lee Bair to become the first pastor was confirmed. spiritual work devolving on the congrega- tion, it was necessary to remove the indebt- edness of $2,300 that remained on the prop- erty. Annual payments were made so that April II. 1906, the debt was paid. During this time such improvements to the prop- On Sunday, March 25, 1904, ground for a new church was broken on a lot situated erty were made as occasion demanded and all the regular expenses were met with on the northeast corner of Seward and promptness. The second pastorate has con- Stanton Streets. This lot, valued at $2,000, tinued to the present writing and at the be- was presented to the congregation by ginning of the year 1907 the membership roll is 210 and the Sunday School has an enrollment of 350. The cost of the church was about $6,000. This together with a lot 120X125 feet is valued at $10,000.

St. Stephen's Church. At a meeting of the Con- sistory of Grace Reformed Church, held July 26, 1903, it was decided to organize a Sunday School under its care in Eberton, since incorporated and known as West

Henry Gable. It is significant and worthy of mention in connection with this generous gift, that the donor, fifty-two years previous worked the same soil as a farmer's boy. The church building was erected under the supervision of a committee from Grace Re- formed Church, composed of Robert L. Motter, chairman; E. A. Rice, treasurer; S. Nevin Hench and M. W. Bahn.

On Sunday, August 14, 1904, the corner stone was laid. Services were in charge of

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THE CITY OF YORK

the pastor, assisted by Rev. H. M. J. Klein. $10,000. The church was dedicated under An address was delivered by Rev. H. H. the pastorate of Rev. Robert Lee Bair, Sun- Apple, of Trinity Reformed Church, York, Pa. day, November 27, 1904. The membership in 1907 was one hundred.

The handsome church edifice was for- mally dedicated by the pastor, the Rev. Robert Lee Bair, on Sunday, September 10, Reformed 1905. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the organizer of the congregation. Its property valuation is about $14,000.

Emmanuel Reformed Church, lot upon which a chapel was erected at a

Emmanuel East York, had its origin in a Reformed. Sunday School, organized July 19, 1903, by Rev. H. H. Apple, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, and Rev. E. Bruce Lyttle, pastor of Memorial Church. The organization of this school took place at the home of Professor Eman- uel Boeckel and consisted of a superintend- ent, M. L. Van Baman; a secretary, Alvin Dehoff, and a .treasurer, Edward C. Starview, in East Manchester Township.

Boeckel.

The week following the organization a student of the Theological Seminary at Seventeen years after the beginning of the Moravian Church at Hernhut, Germany, in 1727, and nine years after the first Mora- vian brethren set foot on American soil, near Savannah, Georgia, in 1735, representatives Lancaster, Charles Edward Meyers, was called to York to canvass the eastern sec- tion of the city with a view to enlisting the Reformed people of the community in the school. Simultaneous with the work of of the Moravian Church began to preach in Mr. Meyers, a committee apointed for the purpose secured the building 747 East Mar- was in the year 1744. Up to this time, lit- ket Street as a place for the school to meet. This building soon proved inadequate to accommodate the growing membership and through the courtesy of the Goodwill Fire Company, moved, after one Sunday, to a room in the Goodwill engine house.

A congregation was organized with thirty-four charter members, October 29, I903. The officers elected were, elders, Augustus Emig and Edward Lauer, and deacons, Edwin E. Harbaugh and Jacob Schroeder.

Until November 15, the congregation was supplied with preaching by Rev. Mr. Apple and student Charles Edward Meyers, after which the first pastor, Rev. Robert Lee Bair, who was installed on March II, 1904, took charge of the work. He continued as pastor until April 1, 1905, when Rev. C. E. Meyers was elected as his successor, being ordained and installed May 30, 1905.

The congregation worships in a commo- dious church building on East Market Street, near Sherman, erected at a cost of

Faith Reformed Church is sit-

Faith uated at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Elm Terrace. In

Church. 1903 a Sunday School was or- ganized in a school house ad- joining. Mrs. Kate Schroeder presented a cost of $2,500. The first preaching service was held in this building November 5, 1904. Rev. Arthur C. Ohl was called as pastor and organized a congregation March 12, 1905. He resigned the following year and on May I, 1906, Rev. Irwin S. Ditzler was called as pastor of this congregation, and the ones worshipping in Quickel's Church, in Con- ewago Township, and Christ Church at

MORAVIAN CHURCHES.

York and the regions round about. This tle was known of the Moravian Church in this vicinity, although a few had heard Count Zinzendorf preach at Lancaster. His fame soon spread throughout York county and this was probably the circumstance which led to the sending of Rev. Lischy by the Moravians at Bethlehem to preach the gospel in York. When Rev. Lischy came here, he represented himself as a Reformed minister, and in that capacity was permitted to preach in the Reformed church. His preaching made a good impression among the people in and around York and at Kreutz Creek. In the year 1745, Rev. Ny- berg, of Lancaster, preached the funeral sermon of Rev. Candler, the Lutheran min- ister, near the Conewago, on the present site of Hanover, and again a deep impres- sion was made. Rev. Christian Henry Rauch and Rev. Leonhard Schnell, from Lititz, pioneer clergymen among the Mo- ravians, also visited this place and the for- mer preached occasionally at York and Kreutz Creek.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

In October, 1746, a synod of the Re- dian troubles on the western frontier of formed Church was held at Kreutz Creek. Pennsylvania, it was postponed. The first A short time before this synod, however, it was discovered that Rev. Lischy had come from the Moravian Church and the people sermon in the new church was preached by Rev. Lembke, of Lititz. On February 15, 1756, a graveyard was consecrated, on the were so incensed that he, as well as Chris- occasion of the death of Agnes Neisser, the tian Rauch, was forbidden to preach at

infant daughter of one of the two pastors York. Nevertheless, Christian Rauch con- of the congregation, Neisser and Soelle. tinued to hold religious services at first in In 1757, Rev. Neisser was succeeded by the open air, and afterwards in Immel's Rev. Schlegel. On the 18th of August of house on the Codorus. In April, 1747, the same year a synod of the Moravian Lischy was recalled to Bethlehem and in church was held at York, which numbered,

the following year he severed his connec- including the York congregation, 272 per- sons. tion with the Moravian Church and joined the Reformed Church. He immediately re- turned to York, and through his efforts all the Moravians at Kreutz Creek joined the Reformed Church, except the families of Berot, Lanius and Fischel. In the year 1749 John Heckendorn and Francis Jacob Miller were the first members of the Mora- and Reinecke and the pastor of the Mora- vian church at York. More were added in the following year.

First In 1751, Rev. Philip Meurer was appointed to the pastorate of this Church. place. He lodged with John Heck- endorn until a house was rented from Mr. Croll, which was then used for both a parsonage and a church. On the 27th of November of the same year, the Holy Communion was administered for the first time. This year seems to mark the date of the organization of the Moravian congrega- tion in York. In 1753, Philip Meurer was re- moved from York and Rev. Engel appointed in his place. During the same year quite a number of persons were received into communicant membership of the church. In the year 1754 the congregation was vis- ited by Revs. Peter Boehler, Spangenberg, Matthew Hehl and Nathaniel Seidel. Still more were received into the church mem- bership and steps were taken toward the erection of a church and parsonage.

On the 24th of April, 1755, the foundation stone of the first church building was laid. The dedication of the First Church at the

The foundation stone of the Second church was laid on the 26th of May, 1828, during the pastorate of Rev. Peter Kluge, and on the 9th of November the building was dedicated. At the dedication services, besides Bishop Anders and Revs. Herman vian church, Rev. Hall, of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Cathcart, of the Presbyterian and Dr. Schmucker, of the Lutheran Church, took part. On the 19th, and 20th of December, 1855, during the pastorate of Rev. F. F. Hagen, the centennial jubilee of this church was celebrated. On April 23, 1867, during the pastorate of the Rt. Rev. H. A. Shultz, the work of tearing down the church on Water Street was begun. In the interval between the destruction of the old church and the building of the new one on North Duke Street, the congregation held public worship and Sunday School in the Court House. On October 25 and 26, 1868, Rev. W. H. Rice being pastor, the Third church was dedicated. The ministers pres- ent were the Rt. Revs. Shultz and Bigler, Revs. Sylvester Wolle and A. A. Reinecke, of the Moravian Church, and Rev. N. S. Buckingham, of the Methodist Church, Rev. J. C. Smith, of the United Brethren Church, and Revs. Baum, Fahs and Lochman, of the Lutheran Church. In May, 1870, a synod of the Moravian Church was held here.

Ground was broken for the erection of a corner of Princess and Water Streets, parsonage on the lot adjoining the church

which was used for a long time as the par- in August, 1871, and by the end of March, 1872, the building was occupied by the pas- tor and his family. On March 26, 1884, it was decided to remodel the new church. The committee appointed to attend to this sonage, and remained standing until 1889, took place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of De- cember. It had been intended to hold a synod of the American Moravian Church at York, in connection with these dedica- work was composed of Capt. W. H. Lanius, cation services, but on account of the In- Gibson Smith and E. C. Parkhurst. On

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THE CITY OF YORK

July 19, 1885, the work of remodelling the of the United States, which has been prom- church, which was begun under the pastor- inent and influential in the mission work in America and many foreign countries. ate of Rev. T. L. Kampman, was finished, Rev. E. W. Shields being pastor. The new auditorium was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. E. de Schweinetz and Revs. W. H. Rice, C. of a number from other denominations, has C. Lanius and C. L. Reinecke assisted in the services.

The Second Moravian Church, under Rev. Mr. Luckenbach, with the assistance prospered from the time of its organization. It has been active and influential in a sec- Since the organization of the church the following ministers have served : Philip Meurer, G. Engel, George Neisser, George Soelle, J. F. Schlegel, S. Herr, H. Linden- meyer, O. Krogstrup, H. Lindenmeyer, John Schweisshaupt, George Neisser, John Roth, Abraham Reinecke, John Roth, Lewis F. Boehler. John Molther, J. M. Beck, Emanuel Rondthaler, Constantine Miller, tion of the city susceptible of religious de- velopment. It increased in influence, and in 1907 had 200 members, and a flourish- ing Sunday School under the direction of the pastor. In order to fulfill the require- ments of the growing congregation, in 1903, the house of worship was enlarged and im- proved, doubling the original seating capac- ity. Since the congregation was organized J. T. Loeffler, J. P. Kluge, C. C. Dober, C. a parsonage, situated at 800 Rouse Avenue, A. Van Vleck, W. L. Lennert, Samuel Reinecke, Ambrose Rondthaler, F. F. Ha- gen, S. M. Smith, H. A. Schultz, W. H. Rice, Jesse Blickensderfer, L. T. Kampman, E. W. Shields, J. J. Ricksecker, S. J. Blum, E. S. Hagen, Thomas W. Shields.

The Second Moravian Church, of Second York, on East King Street, ex- Church. tended, was organized November 18, 1902. In 1879, Prof. A. B. Carner conducted open air religious ser- vices in this vicinity. These efforts result- ed in interesting prominent persons in York to continue the successful missionary work already instituted. Samuel Small, Sr., and WV. Latimer Small offered liberal contribu- tions toward the erection of a house of wor- ship, in which Bethany mission conducted religious services until the Second Mora- vian Church was organized. A commodi- ous chapel was erected and dedicated June 6, 1880. A mission Sunday School was reg- ularly held in the chapel under the direc- tion of Mrs. Jeremiah S. Black, Mr. George H. Sprigg, David Fahs and others. In 1887 the Moravian Church sent to the field of labor Rev. M. E. Kemper. Religious services and the Sunday School were con- tinued under the direction of M. E. Oerter, William Allen and Robert W. Herbst. Rev. Leon G. Luckenbach, who had just graduated from the Moravian College and Theological Seminary, at Bethlehem, in 1896 took charge of the mission and con- tinued the work with success. A congrega- tion of 156 members was organized in 1902, under the direction of the Moravian Church

was erected at a cost of $3,500 and paid for.

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

From the year 1683 to 1776 the

Friends province of Pennsylvania be- Meeting. longed to William Penn and his heirs. When York was founded in 1741, the Quakers ruled the province, the majority of the Provincial Assembly being composed of men adhering to that religious faith. Three of the commissioners appoint- ed to lay off York County were Quakers. Early in the history of York, Quakers set- tled in the town and vicinity and in 1754, York Meeting was established. A com- plete record of its history will be found on page 114.

EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

The history of St. John's Epis- St. John's copal Church from the time it Episcopal was founded down to 1831 was Church. written by Mrs. Henry D. Schmidt, one of the founders of the Yorktown Chapter Daughters of Amer- ican Revolution. The history of the church from 1831 down to date was prepared by her son, George S. Schmidt, a prominent member of the York County Bar. The bi- ography of Rev. Thomas Barton, the first rector of the church, will be found on page 457 in this volume.

Among the many places of historic in- terest in and about our city there are few over which the memory more fondly lingers than the Protestant Episcopal church of St. Jolin's at York. It is certain that when

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Rev. Thomas Barton, the first English mis- sionary to set foot within our town came here in 1755, he found existing a congrega- toin of churchmen regularly organized, but having neither a fixed place of meeting nor permanent rector. He immediately entered upon the work as reader and rector of the small seat of Episcopalians then existing, and performed like duties for the church- men scattered through what is now York, Cumberland and Adams Counties. years he sustained his relation to the churchmen in Yorktown, and in 1765 was succeeded by the Rev. John Andrews and other missionaries of the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel sent over from England. His first aim was apparently to give to the struggling congregation a local habitation. A subscription was opened " for the performance of divine service ac- cording to the rites and ceremonies of the church of England," and Thomas Minshall, the parish records say, "was appointed to receive the said subscriptions, and as usual in such cases the well disposed of other re- ligious societies were applied to for sub- scriptions ; several gave money, some tim- ber and some hauling, but the whole from such as were not of the congregation that was got in Yorktown was inconsiderable." The donations in money, material and labor not being sufficient to meet the necessities, a plan was resorted to which was common enough at the time but over which in this latter day we would somewhat apologetic- ally slur. A lottery was held to raise a sum of money to pay the debts on certain Phila- delphia churches and to build Episcopal churches in York and Reading. This lot- tery was authorized by the Pennsylvania Assembly and from the proceeds the church at York realized 257 pounds and 5 shillings. A church building was erected on a lot of ground 80x250 feet, for which a warrant was granted to Samuel Johnston, Thomas Minshall and Joseph Adlum as trustees. Two hundred pounds additional was sub- sequently collected, with which added to the money and other contributions on hand the church was built. Crimson damask hangings for the pulpit were purchased and made by the ladies of the congregation out of their own subscriptions. The original church building was about thirty feet square, with the chancel on the north and

the door on the south, the entrance to the grounds being from what is now Gas Alley. The Rev. Mr. Andrews continued his min- istrations here from 1765 until 1772. He was succeeded in. 1772 by the Rev. Daniel Batwell, another English missionary. Within a year after he had taken charge a bell was procured for the York church. As the church building then had no belfry the bell on its arrival was deposited on the

For ten pavement of Joseph Updegraff, Esq., in Centre Square, where it remained for some time. When in July, 1776, the news of the signing of the Declaration reached York- town it was lifted by willing hands from its humble place and hoisted to the cupola of the Court House, when its brazen tongue first told the news to excited multitudes that a free and independent nation was born.

The bell remained upon the cupola of the Court House until that building was torn down in 1841, when it was taken by Samuel Hays, Joseph Holland and Samuel Mc- Curdy, a committee of churchmen, and borne away to the church despite the threats and objections of many citizens. So great was the hostility occasioned by this act that for ten years the bell was unused, but lay stored away in the basement of the church and was only placed on the belfry where it now stands after the lapse of a decade. The Rev. Mr. Batwell was an Englishman, by education, as well as by birth a pronounced Tory, and his political opinions doubtless freely expressed aroused the bitter animosity of the people. One Monday morning he was seized, as Mr. Glossbrenner says in his history, by certain " rude and boisterous friends of liberty, by whom he was at that time several times ducked in the Codorus Creek. Being freed he set out on his return to his dwelling house at York Springs, but he had hardly arrived there, when a company of armed men from York seized him and returning, confined him in the public prison on Octo- ber 2, 1777."

During the incarceration of the rector and for seven years thereafter, the church at York was without a head, and during the Revolution the church building was used as an arsenal. To what extent it was devoted to such use we have no authentic state- ment, but it is certain that in 1810 when the

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THE CITY OF YORK

church edifice was renovated and remod- the Rev. Grandison Aisquith, who served elled, several pounds of powder were dis- the parish for a single year.

covered stored in the base of the old pulpit. Whether the powder so found was simply a remnant accidentally overlooked when the larger quantity stored there was taken away,

Tory rector, is a matter which must always can never know the fact. During the was received from the Rev. Dr. William White, afterward consecrated the first bishop of Pennsylvania, urging the attend- ance of the representatives of this congre- gation at a meeting in Philadelphia, to be held May 24, 1784, for the purpose of pro- posing a plan of ecclesiastical government for Episcopalians generally throughout the United States. Pursuant to this request Colonel Thomas Hartley, Major William Bailey and William Johnson were chosen delegates to this, the first meeting called for the establishment of the American branch of the Protestant Episcopal church.

In the same year the Rev. John Campbell was called as rector and duly installed. He was the first to devote his time and atten- tion exclusively to the interests of the par- ish, which he labored to advance in every way. In 1785 he obtained from the pro- prietaries a deed for the ground opposite the church, upon which in 1787 the rectory and academy were erected. For a dozen years the church controlled the last named institution, at the end of which period the guidance and control were vested in a board of trustees, appointed by the state in con- sideration of certain financial support given by the state.

In 1804 the Rev. Campbell resigned his charge, and in 1810 was succeeded by the Rev. John Armstrong. That Mr. Arm- strong was not only a faithful pastor but an earnest and effective laborer for the ad- vancement of the interests of his church is evidenced by the fact of his success in ac- quiring means to renovate, enlarge and re- model the church building in the first year of his pastorate, and by the further act that in 1812 he presented seventy persons for confirmation, a number never equalled from the organization of the church to the pres- ent time. He was succeeded in 1818 by

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372