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St. Peter's Church
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| Location: | Church St., Brownsville, Pennsylvania |
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| Area: | 0.8 acres (0.32 ha) |
| Built: | 1843 |
| Architect: | Crisp,Mr. |
| Architectural style: | Gothic Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 80003494[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1980 |
St. Peter's Church is a historic Catholic church in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in the Diocese of Greensburg. The first Catholic parish in Fayette County, it is the oldest continuously operating parish in Western Pennsylvania. It is also believed to have been the spot on which the first religious service of any kind offered west of the Allegheny Mountains was held. On July 1, 1754, French troops on their way to capture Fort Necessity from the British climbed the bank from the Monongahela River with their Chaplain Rev. Denys Baron and prayed for victory. That mass of the French troops is depicted in one of the stained glass windows in the church.[2]
The stone Gothic Revival church building on Church Street is a landmark. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The church was established in 1843 to serve the burgeoning Irish American population. At the time, Brownsville was an important gateway to the West and South due to its location on the National Road[3], and believing it, not Pittsburgh, would become the seat of the episcopal see, the founders built the church to be a future cathedral. The pulpit is located to the left of the altar, as in a cathedral, and the crypt includes space for the tombs of bishops.[4]
The stained glass windows, which feature 32 different shades of blue[5] depict Catholic history from 1754 to 1843.
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Another unique feature of St. Peter's is its cemetery. In addition to its unique inscriptions on the headstone, the Cemetery has been featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not as the only cemetery with heated graves. The boiler that heated the church was located in a separate building across the street and the pipes running under the cemetery to the church created a significant enough amount of heat to even melt snow on the grave sites.[6]
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