Augustus Lutheran Church

Augustus Lutheran Church

Augustus Lutheran Church
Location 717 Main Street, Trappe, Pennsylvania
Built 1743
Architect Heinrich Melchior Muhlenburg
NRHP Reference # 67000019[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP December 24, 1967[1]
Designated NHL December 24, 1967[2]
Designated PHMC September 03, 1947[3]

Augustus Lutheran Church, built from 1743–1745 in Trappe, Pennsylvania, is the oldest unchanged Lutheran church building in the United States in continuous use by the same congregation.[4]

The church, which cost 200 pounds sterling, was designed by Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg. Prior to its construction, the congregation worshiped in a nearby barn. All of the interior fittings were fabricated from local materials, including the pulpit which is made of American black walnut. The building is constructed of red sandstone (now faced with stucco); the east end of the building is formed into a three-sided apse. Above the south entrance is a date stone inscribed in Latin with the names of the church's founders, including Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Frederick Marstellar, John Nicholas Cressman, Anthony or Adam Heilman, Jacob Miller, Henry Haas, and George Kebner. The roof is framed with oak rafters and covered in cedar shingles. The cemetery at the rear of the building contains tombstones dating from 1736 and earlier, as well as the graves of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, his wife Anna Maria Weiser, and their daughter Mary Swaine and son General Peter Muhlenberg.[5]

Although the shell of the building was finished in 1743, the church was not consecrated until 1745. It was named after August Hermann Francke, founder of the Francke Foundations in Halle, Germany, a center of Lutheran Pietism where Henry Melchior Muhlenberg had trained. During the American Revolution, the building was used as a camping site and hospital for the Continental Army. A monument at the west end of the church commemorates unknown Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the cemetery.

By the mid-1800s, the congregation had outgrown the old building, and a new brick church was built. This structure was consecrated in 1852, whereupon the old building became used for Sunday School classes. A freak thunderstorm in 1860 severely damaged the roof; however, it was decided to restore the building rather than tear it down. A cast-iron stove was then added to the previously unheated building. Renovations in the 1920s restored the building to its original appearance. In the late 1950s, services were once again held in the Old Church in the summer and on Christmas Eve, a tradition which continues to the present day. A digital organ was placed in the original organ case in the early 1990s.

The church was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967.[2][4]

It is located at 717 West Main Street, Trappe, Pennsylvania.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "Augustus Lutheran Church". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  3. ↑ "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Patricia Heintzelman and Charles Snell (August 30, 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Augustus Lutheran Church" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 3 National Park Service photos, exterior, from 1967. (970 KB)
  5. ↑ Minardi, Lisa. Pastors & Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania (Collegeville, PA: Berman Museum of Art, 2011), p. 10-11.

External links

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Coordinates: 40°12′07″N 75°28′50″W / 40.2019°N 75.4805°W / 40.2019; -75.4805

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