First Reformed Church, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I'm in the city of Lancaster at least once a year, and I consider it one of my absolute favorite cities. I go there for a weekend with my friends in order to attend Zenkaikon, an annual gathering of fans of all sorts, and the square outside Lancaster Central Market is overflowing with costumed characters mixed with the (tolerantly amused) regular residents.

We were there again this year, in the spring, and I was at that time awaiting permission from the PHMC to set up this blog. My friends, who were a lot more confident than I was that it was going to happen, were encouraging me to take pictures of the signs and subjects that we found while walking around town. One of these was a beautiful church with an open garden, and we spent quite a few minutes admiring the First Reformed United Church of Christ.

The sign is located by the church
on East Orange Street

Lancaster County was formed in 1732. On September 8th of the same year, a baby named Susanna Bauman was baptized by a visiting minister, and this is the oldest surviving record of a Reformed baptism in the city. A little under three years later, Rev. John Jacob Hock arrived in time to oversee the dedication of a log cabin which would serve as the first actual church building for the Reformed congregation. In 1752 a cornerstone was laid for a new stone church, which was completed six years later. The official historical brochure for the church includes a drawing of this building, which served its congregation for almost a hundred years.

An early pastor of First Reformed was the Rev. Philip William Otterbein. I didn't find a whole lot about his time with First Reformed, but he became an influential figure in Protestant Christianity. Together with his close friend Martin Boehm, formerly a Mennonite, he founded and was one of the first bishops of a new denomination, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

One of the prominent families in the church congregation during its first century were the Hauers, of German descent. I wouldn't bring this up except that I recognize the name of their daughter Barbara, much to my own amusement. She was baptized at First Reformed in December 1766, and at some point married a gentleman by the last name of Fritchie and relocated to Maryland. It's there, in her 90s, that she reappears - as the title heroine of John Greenleaf Whittier's poem about the Civil War. I remember reading it as a child. "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head! But spare your country's flag!" she said. It's generally acknowledged that this probably never happened, or at least not the way it's described in the poem, but it can't be denied that it's a pretty awesome line.

Initially, the congregation worshiped in French, English, and German. French services (which were mostly for baptisms in French families) passed out of habit by the 1800s, but by the middle of the century, the congregation was torn over whether to continue worshiping in both English and German or to change to English only. A faction actually broke away from First Reformed and built a new church, St. Paul's Reformed, at the corner of East Orange and North Duke Streets; they worshiped exclusively in English. (There's a pair of churches in my hometown which have an almost identical history, so this was a common issue in Pennsylvania during the 19th century.) The same thing happened again in 1870, when another faction broke off to form St. John's Reformed at the corner of Orange and Mulberry Streets; this time, however, the faction which broke away did so in order to worship exclusively in German. First Reformed has worshiped only in English ever since. Neither St. Paul's nor St. John's exist anymore, by the way; in 1975, they merged to form the Church of the Apostles.

Historical plaque on the side
of the church building

A few months after this schism occurred, First Reformed (or as it was sometimes called, First Church) received a new minister, Rev. Henry Harbaugh. He was fluent in both English and German, and perfectly happy to encourage his congregants to continue services in both languages. Rev. Harbaugh was only with First Reformed for ten years, but his impact was a massive one; it was during his tenure as pastor that the current church building was constructed. The cornerstone of the old stone church was used as the cornerstone of the new brick one, and the front door still has the same lock that was engraved by locksmith Peter Kieffer for the door of the first log church. In German, it reads, "Now go we into the Church. May our Lord Jesus Christ be with us; not alone for our time, but for all Eternity."

Rev. Harbaugh is also remembered as having been the composer of a hymn, "Jesus I Live To Thee," which he is said to have written in his office in First Reformed. It's his best known and most widely used composition, although he's also known for having composed "God Most Mighty, Sovereign Lord," regarded as a national hymn, and "Make the Cross Your Meditation." Both of these appeared in his book Poems, published in Philadelphia in 1860, just as he was reaching the end of his pastorate at First Reformed.

I couldn't get into the church building on my visit in the spring, although some open windows allowed me to peek inside and admire the stained glass. I could also see the sanctuary, which was re-frescoed in 1905 following a devastating fire in 1903. But the memorial garden, located in the church's courtyard, is open every day to visitors from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Flat stones identify those who are remembered here, including members of the congregation who served in the Revolutionary War. Guarded by the brick church's twin steeples, it's an oasis of quiet in a beautifully bustling city - just as First Reformed has been for almost three hundred years.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Website of the First Reformed Church

Facebook of the First Reformed Church

Dubbs, Rev. Joseph H. "Earliest Reformed Church in Lancaster County." Reprinted in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, vol. 5, no. 1.

First Reformed Church at VisitHistoricLancaster.com

First Reformed Church's Memorial Garden at FindAGrave.com

First Reformed Church at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.