Swedish Lutheran Church - Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church

Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church is located at 916 South Swanson Street in , , 19147

Illustration by Thomas Sully. Engraving by Cephas G. Childs. 1828. Public Domain The original drawing of the Swedish Lutheran Church by Thomas Sully was engraved by Cephas G. Childs. The simple building, which stands nearly on the edge of the Delaware, in Southwark, was consecrated in the year 1677, under the name of "Gloria Dei," according to the source book, Views in Philadelphia and its environs, from original drawings taken in 1827-30, published by Cephas G. Childs in Philadelphia. Gloria Dei Church, known locally as Old Swedes', is a historic church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. History of the building The Church is sixty feet long, about thirty feet wide, and its height to the eaves is twenty feet. At the time the engraving was created, Childs described the building as, “…so often repaired, that scarcely any thing remains of the original structure except the brick walls, which are still firm, and promise to survive the new but frailer materials that they support. From this slight description, and from the view annexed, it will be seen that the claims of this rustic edifice are very modest in point of architecture. There are other respects however in which it demands Old Swedes' Church. Drawing by Claude Clark. Date unknown. Public Domain. attention and will continue to awaken an increasing interest. The Swedish Lutheran Church is interesting for its antiquity. A foreigner would smile perhaps at this pretension. We ourselves are free to confess, that if the building of which we speak were the relic of a period of oppression and barbarism, it would require more than a hundred and thirty years to hallow it in our eyes, and to give it the charms of antiquity.” 1 Gloria Dei Church, known locally as Old Swedes', is a historic church located in the Southwark neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at

929 South Water Street, bounded by Christian Street on the north, South Richards and Betts. Gloria Christopher Columbus Boulevar on the east, and Washington Avenue on Dei Old Swedes' Church, Swanson Street near the south. Built between 1698 and 1700, the Swedish Lutheran Church is Christian. 1854. Salt the oldest church in Pennsylvania and second oldest Swedish church in the Prints. Free Library of after Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes) in Wilmington, Philadelphia Delaware. The church displays the English vernacular style of church design, which combines elements of the Medieval and Gothic styles.2 The church's vestry and entranceway were added in 1703 to buttress the walls, which had begun to buckle under the weight of the roof. The tower was added in1733, and interior alterations were made in 1845, designed by Samuel Sloan. 3 The exterior of the building is described by C. G. Childs as being in a state of disrepair in 1828. He states that, “One cannot step within its humble precincts without being filled with the genius of the place. The visitor on a weekday enters the churchyard through the shady grounds of the parsonage, and by a path imperfectly indicated by a few bushes of overgrown box. The parsonage itself, standing in affectionate proximity to the Church, separated from it only by a fence, whose decayed condition tells you that it serves merely as a landmark, and is not intended to divide the servant of God from the home of his heart and his labours — the Church, as a work of art, entering into no proud rivalry with nature, but harmonizing Image courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. with the rural character of the spot — the In this 1702 engraving, Swedish artist Thomas Campanius Holm gray stones, that mark the places where the depicted a friendly exchange between local Indians and traders in New Sweden, on the Delaware River. congregation of the dead repose, and in

1 Cephas Grier Childs, Thomas Birch, Thomas Sully, George Strickland, Hugh Reinagle, Thomas Doughty, J. R. Watson, et al. Views in Philadelphia and its environs, from original drawings taken in 1827-30. (Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827). 2 John Andrew Gallery, ed., Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture, 2004), 20. 3 Edward Teitelman and Richard W. Longstreth, Architecture in Philadelphia: A Guide (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1981), 178. addition, the recollection of the venerable years of the present pastor — all conspire to make a deep and tender impression on the mind. The effect is probably somewhat heightened by the sudden transition from the noise and hurry of the city to the comparative seclusion of this spot.”4 Gloria Dei, the oldest church in Pennsylvania, was settled by Swedish pioneers of New Sweden in 1646. An existing blockhouse at Wicaco, now South Philadelphia, had been renovated for worship in 1677 and was used until the present church was built beginning in 1697.5 The interior of the building, according to C.G. Childs at the time his book was published in 1827 is described as having nothing to attract attention except the inscriptions at the foot of the pulpit, beneath which the remains of the departed pastors of this flock of Christ arc deposited. So, although dead, they yet speak — but not in an unknown tongue — from the same place where their living voices we heard.6 In 1703, Gloria Dei was the site of the first regular Lutheran ordination in the Americas, that of Justus Falckner, a German theology student. Jenny Lind sang here during one of her American tours. Hanging in the center aisle is a Swedish chandelier given by famous Swedish artist Carl Milles. The church has a collection of historical and religious artifacts the church has acquired over three centuries, including bronze crosses and 18th century

Interior Gloria Dei Old Swedes' Church. NPS Image. Bibles in Swedish and English. In 1845, the

formerly Swedish Lutheran congregation joined the 7 Episcopal Church. The church stands as a living monument to Philadelphia's oldest neighborhood and earliest European settlers. The church houses many historical artifacts related to Swedish American settlement. Replicas of the two ships that brought the first Swedes to Pennsylvania are suspended from the church ceiling. A wood carving of two cherubs with a Bible was brought from Sweden before 1646, and the Swedish baptismal font was imported in 1731. The church's stained-glass window is one of the earliest examples of American-made stained glass and dates to the mid-1800s.8

The Reverend Jehu Curtis Clay in the churchyard (c.1860). Public Domain

4 Cephas Grier Childs, Thomas Birch, Thomas Sully, George Strickland, Hugh Reinagle, Thomas Doughty, J. R. Watson, et al. Views in Philadelphia and its environs, from original drawings taken in 1827-30. (Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827). 5 “Gloria Dei (Old Swede's Church) National Historic Site,” National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/gloriadei.htm. 6 Childs, Views in Philadelphia. 7 "Philadelphia. Old Swedes Church". Work Projects Administration Poster Collection. . 8 Melissa Mandell, “Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www.philaplace.org/story/1/. Preservation Efforts

Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church

Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church Today. Beyond My Ken / CC BY-SA. Gloria Dei Old Swedes’ Church is the oldest surviving brick building in Philadelphia and the oldest church building in Pennsylvania. Thanks to the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, this great treasure is now recognized as part of the living history of Philadelphia. According the church’s website, “As a congregation, the past plays an important determining factor in who we are and what we need to do thrive in the future.9 In 1942, the National Park Service designated Gloria Dei as a national historic site. In 1999, Gloria Dei completed an almost total restoration in time for the 300th anniversary of the church building. The church, its buildings and historic burial grounds are open to the public for tours.10

9 "History," Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church, https://www.old-swedes.org/about/history. 10 Melissa Mandell, “Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www.philaplace.org/story/1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ashmead, Henry Graham, History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania Chapter II, Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884. Childs, Cephas Grier, Thomas Birch, Thomas Sully, George Strickland, Hugh Reinagle, Thomas Doughty, J. R. Watson, et al. Views in Philadelphia and its environs, from original drawings taken in 1827-30. Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827. Gallery, John Andrew, ed. Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City. Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture, 2004. Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church, https://www.old-swedes.org/about/history. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print. Mandell, Melissa. “Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Episcopal Church,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www.philaplace.org/story/1. National Historical Park Pennsylvania. NPS.gov. https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Teitelman, Edward and Longstreth, Richard W. Architecture in Philadelphia: A Guide. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1981.

IMAGE CREDITS

"Swedish Lutheran Church,” Illustration by Thomas Sully. Engraving by Cephas G. Childs. 1828. Public Domain.

“Old Swedes' Church.” Drawing by Claude Clark. Date unknown. Public Domain.

“Gloria Dei Old Swedes' Church.” Salt Prints. Richards and Betts. Swanson Street near Christian. 1854. Free Library of Philadelphia.

“Depiction of a friendly exchange between local Indians and traders in New Sweden, on the Delaware River.” Thomas Campanius Holm. Engraving, 1702. Image courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

“Interior Gloria Dei Old Swedes' Church.” NPS Image. National Park Service.

“The Reverend Jehu Curtis Clay in the churchyard.” c.1860. Public Domain.

“Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church Today.” Photo by Beyond My Ken. CC BY-SA.