First Presbyterian Church, Lancaster, Lancaster County

February is running rampant in Pennsylvania right now. The groundhog has promised six more weeks of this nonsense. I'm unfortunately very affected by weather changes, especially cold and damp ones, so this has been less than entertaining for me.

Very wistfully, I'm thinking back to last June, when my best friend Andrea and I took a day trip to Lancaster and I collected several markers for this blog. Lockdown had just been lifted, social distancing was in full force, and we were enjoying the beautiful sunny weather in one of our favorite cities. So for today's post, I'm going to remember the warmth and take you all on a visit to one of Lancaster's oldest churches.

The marker is located directly in front of the
church at 140 East Orange Street, Lancaster

The earliest known mention of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster comes in the form of minutes from a meeting of the Donegal Presbytery, which took place on June 16, 1742. According to the church's own website, various Lancaster congregations used the county courthouse for worship in those days, whenever ministers could be found. Not many churches actually had their own designated meeting space or their own preacher; it was very common for a minister to divide his time between multiple churches, and this often involved traveling. So when someone was available to preach, the people would hustle down to Lancaster's beautiful courthouse (itself the subject of a future blog post) to listen.

This changed for the Presbyterians in 1763, when Governor James Hamilton gave permission for a piece of ground known as Lot No. 19, on Orange Street, to be used as an English Presbyterian cemetery. A small house of worship was established there in 1770, with the burial grounds surrounding it. The scene was captured in a painting by E. R. Hammond in 1844, which hangs in the church foyer today (on permanent loan from the Presbyterian Historical Society). The lot in question remains part of the church property today, though the original meeting house is of course long gone.

The first full-time pastor of First Presbyterian was the Rev. John D. Woodhull, whom history remembers as "the fighting chaplain." I don't know about you, but this immediately made me think of Reverend Oliver, from the movie The Patriot, played by Rene Auberjonois. Maybe Woodhull was part of the inspiration for that character. What we do know about Woodhull is that he was descended from British nobility, but also a fierce patriot of the fledgling United States. He graduated from Princeton in 1766, then received his theological training from Rev. John Blair at Fagg's Manor in Chester County. He was married to Sarah "Sally" Spofford of Philadelphia, the mother of his six children, and by all accounts they had a very affectionate marriage and he respected her greatly. Starting in 1769, he was called to preach at two Presbyterian churches, Lancaster and Leacock, dividing his time between them. When the Revolutionary War began, he rallied all of the able-bodied young men of the Leacock congregation to follow him into the field. It's believed that he was part of Washington's army at Valley Forge, and he's confirmed to have participated in the Battle of Monmouth, where he actively manned a cannon after its original gunner fell. After the war he returned home, then accepted a call to the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, where he remained as pastor until his death in 1824.

Two of Lancaster's most famous sons were among the congregation of First Presbyterian, though at different points in history. One was Robert Fulton, the great inventor for whom the Fulton Opera House is named; he was a child when he first attended services with his father, Robert Fulton Sr., who was one of the church's founders. The other, of course, was our 15th President, James Buchanan, who after his Presidency resided in the nearby estate at Wheatland. Fulton and Buchanan both have their own future posts coming.

The current church building was erected in 1850, and remodeled in 1877. The lot on which it stands was donated by Robert Fulton, Sr. Its unassuming exterior hides treasures within; there are twelve extraordinary stained glass windows done in the Tiffany style. Nine of them actually are from the Tiffany Studios in New York City, and the other three were made in the Nicola Goodwin D’Ascenzo Studios of Philadelphia. I couldn't go inside the building to see them for myself, because of the pandemic, but the church has created a full-color picture book about the windows, which can be viewed online as a PDF here. Other marvelous creations are also inside, including a Celtic cross made on the isle of Iona in Scotland and an Aeolian-Skinner organ from Massachusetts. The church is both a Historic Preservation Trust Site for Lancaster County and an American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Site.

Today, First Presbyterian of Lancaster continues its mission of Christian faith and public service, with a congregation of under 1,000. Worship is strictly virtual as of this writing due to the global health situation, but we all hope for that to change in the near future.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Official website of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster

Lancaster County Historical Society's records of Rev. John D. Woodhull

Rev. John D. Woodhull at FindAGrave.com

The Presbyterian Historical Society

First Presbyterian 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.