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St. Paul's Episcopal Church
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St. Paul's Church
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| Location: | 122 East Pine Street Georgetown, Delaware |
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| Architect: | Charles McKim |
| Architectural style: | Gothic |
| NRHP Reference#: | 79000649 |
| Added to NRHP: | November 13, 1979 |
St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church is located in Georgetown, Delaware in Sussex County on 122 East Pine Street. It is one of the 38 parish churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. Many statesmen from Sussex County are interred in the churchyard, including Caleb R. Layton, Daniel J. Layton and others.
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The church was initially organized on June 21, 1794 and a plot of land was acquired on Front and Pine streets, though it was never used and later sold in 1806. The Rev. James Wiltbank conducted services in the court house infrequently in the absence of an actual church. In 1804 the current lot at East Pine and Academy streets was acquired and a wood frame structure was built over the next two decades due to lack of funding.
In 1805 the Delaware legislature passed an act allowing the vestry to raise $1500 by lottery for the construction of the church. On January 25, 1806 the Rev. Hamilton Bell dedicated the still unfinished church. The legislature authorized another lottery in 1827 to raise $10,000 for the construction of an academy, a Masonic Hall and for the completion of St. Paul's, though it was never held.
In 1843 the frame church was removed and the construction of a new church began. This brick structure was completed in 1844 and then consecrated on November 19 of the same year. By 1881 the church had fallen into relative disrepair. It was thus rebuilt and remodeled in the early Victorian Gothic style, its current state. The architectural firm responsible was McKim, Mead, and White of New York City, distinguished for planning a number of famous churches.
Rev. James C. Kerr arrived in 1885 and installed the churches first pipe organ. The following year a Sunday School chapel was started and a building for it was made in the 1870s. Finally in 1897 a 29' by 43' two-story frame rectory was constructed on adjacent property by John W. Messick for the sum of $1500. The Rev. John Warnock was then the first rector to live in the rectory. In 1930 the U.S. Senator Willard Saulsbury, Jr. in his will gave St. Paul's its distinctive stained glass altar window called "The Te Deum Window" depicting the faith of the Church as stated in the creed-anthem The Te Deum. The window was designed by James H. Hogan of the London studios of James Powell & Sons. It was dedicated Feb. 9 by the bishop.
The National Register of Historic Places added the church to its lists in 1979. In 1987 a fire of an unknown origin destroyed the parish hall, Sunday School classrooms and sacristy, though the sanctuary and nave were not damaged. These parts were subsequently rebuilt in 1990.
The following data in most cases comes from tombstones in the churchyard and in some cases dates are illegible. Missing dates have been replaced with question marks, or in cases where only some numbers are legible, with underscores to represent the missing number. Titles, positions and relationships have been included to distinguish people with similar or identical names and give further information.
List of Registered Historic Places in Delaware
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