St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church is an historic
Episcopal Church church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
located in
Douglassville, Pennsylvania
Douglassville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Amity Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Douglassville is situated along U.S. Route 422 and Pennsylvania Route 724. Developments include the Amity Gardens subdivision, the ...
. The church is a part of the
Diocese of Bethlehem.
History
St. Gabriel's was founded in 1720 as a Swedish Lutheran church. In 1760 the church joined the Church of England. The oldest structure is known as Saint Gabriel's 1801 Chapel. It was built in 1801, and is a two-story, three bay by two bay,
brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material.
Type ...
building. It features a
herringbone design in the stone construction. The interior was restored in 1959.
[ ''Note:'' This includes ] It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1978.
The larger structure was consecrated in 1884. An addition was made in 1959 that contains administrative offices and classrooms. The interior of the 1884 church was remodeled in 2003. In 2005, the existing 1959 portion of the building was remodeled and expanded to include more classrooms and a large parish hall.
The historic cemetery has veterans from most wars, starting with the Revolutionary War (25 veterans) and ending with the Persian Gulf War (1 veteran). The one exception is the Spanish-American War.
List of Clergy
* Andreas Rudman, 1701-1707
* Andrew Sandel, 1708-1719
* Samuel Hesselius, 1720-1723
* Assistant Pastors of Wicaco, 1723-1734
* Gabriel Falck, 1735-1745
* Henry M. Muhlenberg, 1748-1752
* John Abraham Lidenius, 1752-1755
* Henry M. Muhlenberg, 1755-1761
* Alexander Murray, 1762–1778, 1790-1793
(During the Revolutionary War period. Reverend Murray returned to England. The Parish was cut off from the Church of England so there were no stated public ministrations.)
* John Wade, 1795-1797
* Caleb Hopkins, 1798-1801
* John Armstrong, 1801-1805
* Caleb Hopkins, 1805-1806
* Levi Bull, 1806-1825
* Caleb J. Good, 1826-1827
* George Mintzer, 1828-1836
* William Homman, 1837-1838
* Henry F. M. Whitesides, 1839
* Oliver A. Shaw, 1840
* George Burker, 1840-1842
* Edmund Leaf, 1844-1868
* Jeremiah Karcher, 1869-1871
* Edmund Leaf, 1872-1876
* John Long, 1877-1886
* Edward J. Koons, 1886-1888
* William DuHamel, 1889-1892
* Samuel McElwee, 1892-1906
* William R. Holloway, 1907-1912
* A. S. H. Winsor, 1912-1914
* William DuHamel, 1915-1928
* Arthur B. Vossler, 1928-1934
* Daniel C. Osborne, 1935-1938
* Irving Angell McGrew, 1939-1942
* Thomas B. Smythe, 1943-1959
* Woodworth B. Allen, Jr., 1959-1962
* Lloyd I. Wolf, 1962-1965
* Kenneth T. Cosbey, 1966-1987
* Calvin C. Adams, 1987-2010
* David Green, 2013-2018
* Andrew D. VanBuren, 2019–present
References
External links
St. Gabriel's Official Website*
Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Churches completed in 1801
19th-century Episcopal church buildings
Churches in Berks County, Pennsylvania
St. Gabriel
National Register of Historic Places in Berks County, Pennsylvania
Swedish-American history
Swedish-American culture in Pennsylvania
New Sweden
Churches in New Sweden
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