Trinity Lutheran Church

Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania was built from 1761-1766, with the parsonage constructed in 1853, but its congregation remains as the oldest church in Lancaster and one of the oldest in the state. The church began when, in the 1700s, German-speaking Lutherans began building houses in and around the town that would become Lancaster. Prior, it was an American Indian (Native American) village. In 1729, the church was officially established when a visiting German clergyman baptized Anna Maria Lien and Frederick Lingelberger. Revered John Casper Stoever became the first permanent pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, making initial entries in a “Church Record for the Town of Lancaster” in 1733, just four years after the first ceremonies took place.

Upon choosing a permanent pastor and creating records, the congregation became focused on funding a church building. By 1738, the church was completed on the southeast corner of South Duke Street and Mifflin Street, with finishing touches coming from donations of town residents. Landholder and local doctor Adam Simon Kuhn donated a red satin cloth to cover the communion elements, while Anna Elizabeth Scheutz, the wife of a “very wealthy saddler,” contributed an embroidered napkin for the baptismal table. Soon, the congregation required more space, and in 1761, laid the cornerstone for a larger house of worship on the northeast corner of the same streets as the first church. By 1766, that new building was completed in a red brick Georgian style.

Not long after the church’s founding, it became a prominent place for the borough’s activities. Between 1730 and 1763, treaty talks were typically held in the courthouse in Penn Square. However, on August 11, 1762, dignitaries from at least 10 Native American communities and the Pennsylvania colonial government convened a session at Trinity Lutheran Church. By 1785, the church became so popular that hundreds of people were part of the congregation, with Reverend Doctor Gotthilf Henry Ernestus Muhlenberg, youngest son of the Trinity Lutheran Church patriarch Reverend Henry Muhlenberg, writing that he baptized 179 people, confirmed 72, administered the Lord’s Supper to 627, and buried 48 just that year. The same year, construction also began on the church’s 195-foot steeple, which made it the tallest structure in Lancaster.

Around 1825, people of the expanding congregation began asking for regular English worship services; however, many members of the church opposed the loss of German. Those opposing members formed their own congregation and built Zion Church, where they could continue to worship as they pleased. In May of 1862, the General Synod of the Lutheran Church met at Trinity to take a public stance denouncing slavery for the first time. While Trinity Lutheran Church continued to make modern changes, it was not until about 100 years later that it suspended the pew rental system, in which members of the congregation had to pay to worship at the church. In 1853, a parsonage was built on the former site of the old church, and the interior of the Georgian-style church was renovated. The two-story church is around 60 by 80 feet with a four-story tower. It contains an original 1771 organ case by David Tannenberg, and its four statues of Saints Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, which were replaced in 1949, are considered prominent pieces of the architecture. In 1876, a Sunday school was built across from the church, but was later dismantled in 1954. In 1955 a parish was dedicated on the site of the former Sunday school chapel.

1. STORY OF THE PEOPLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD, Visit Historic Lancaster. Accessed November 7th 2020. http://visithistoriclancaster.com/pdf/02LP109_HOW-_ELCHT_Brochure.pdf.
2. McHose, C. N.. Trinity Lutheran Church of Lancaster Collection, 1905-1930, Lancaster History. Accessed November 7th 2020. https://www.lancasterhistory.org/finding-aids/trinity-lutheran-church-of-lancaster-collection-1905-1930/.
3. OUR HISTORY, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Accessed November 7th 2020. http://www.trinitylancaster.org/about-us/our-history/.
4. Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, 31 South Duke Street, Lancaster, Lancaster County, PA. 1933. Library of Congress. Accessed November 7th 2020. https://www.loc.gov/item/pa0524/.
5. WRITTEN HISTORICAL AMD DESCRIPTIVE DATA, Library of Congress. Accessed November 7th 2020. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa0500/pa0524/data/pa0524data.pdf.