History

A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Libby Browne. Plans are underway to restore a large fountain across from the Please Touch Museum, which has been unused since 1955. This fountain has a special connection to St. Peter’s Church—its official name is the John […]

A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Gina Caruso. In addition to the Revolutionary War heroes and others long passed away, our churchyard is full of life. By now in late April, most of the early flowers like daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips have faded

Easter is an occasion for baptisms, and it gives us the opportunity to view our historic font, the receptacle for water, that is only brought out when needed. Traditionally, in Europe, fonts were usually stationary and carved in stone. Portable wooden fonts such as ours mostly appeared after the Reformation, particularly in the New World.

A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Michael Krasulski. “You Sustained What Should Have Been Sustained”: St. Peter’s Church and the Long Work of Staying: 1945-1960 This article is the third and final installment in a series reflecting on how St. Peter’s Church has

A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Michael Krasulski. While organizing historical materials for the diocesan archives, I came across a remarkable photograph showing students from St. Peter’s Choir School playing football in our churchyard, right among the tombstones. Both Preserve St. Peter’s and

The master builder of St. Peter’s Church, Robert Smith, was born in Scotland on January 14, 1722, so it is timely to share with you some high points in the remarkable story of his life. Quoting from “St. Peter’s Church: Faith in Action for 250 Years,” published in 2011 by Cordelia Biddle, Alan Heavens, and

A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Keith Betten. Answer: More than a half century ago (yikes!), I landed my first professional “public sector historian” position as the Director of the Burlington County, New Jersey, Cultural and Heritage Commission. As part of the job,

Between the end of the Civil War and the First World War, Philadelphia’s newspapers recorded with remarkable detail the daily life of its Center City Episcopal parishes—and St. Peter’s was no exception. From the calling of new rectors to vivid descriptions of Easter Day services, the local press chronicled the rhythms of parish life with

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the volunteer archivist of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, I received several requests for information about the 1918 influenza epidemic—how parishes responded, what they endured, and what long-term effects followed. With the archives closed, I turned to digitized parish records I had collected over the past decade,