View source for Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes)

{{short description|Church in Wilmington, Delaware}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church
| nrhp_type = nhl
| image = Old Swedes front corner 1.JPG
| caption = Holy Trinity Church (Old Swedes) in June 2013
| location = E. 7th St. and Church St., [[Wilmington, Delaware]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|39|44|18.7|N|75|32|26.0|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Delaware#USA
| area = 
| built = {{start date|1698}}
| architect = 
| architecture = 
| designated_nrhp_type = November 5, 1961<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=161&ResourceType=Building |title=Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church |accessdate=2007-10-02 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206091301/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=161&ResourceType=Building |archivedate=2007-12-06}}</ref>
| added = October 15, 1966<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
| refnum = 66000261
}}

'''Holy Trinity Church''', also known as '''Old Swedes''', is a historic church at East 7th and Church Street in [[Wilmington, Delaware]]. It was consecrated on [[Trinity Sunday]], June 4, 1699, by a predominantly Swedish congregation formerly of the colony of [[New Sweden]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.colonialswedes.org/Churches/HolTri.html |title=Holy Trinity (Old Swedes') Church |access-date=2008-04-06 |archive-date=2012-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018112200/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Churches/HolTri.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The church is among the few surviving public buildings that reflect the Swedish colonial effort. It remains open for tours and religious activities. The church was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1961 and became part of [[First State National Historical Park]] in 2013.

The church appears on the obverse of the 1937 [[Delaware Tercentenary half dollar]].

==History==
The church was built in 1698–99 in territory that had been the colony of [[New Sweden]] until 1655. The building materials were local blue granite and Swedish bricks that had been used as ship's [[Sailing ballast|ballast]]. The church is situated on the site of the [[Fort Christina]]'s burial ground, which dates to 1638. The church claims to be "the nation's oldest church building still used for worship as originally built". There are reportedly over 15,000 burials in the churchyard. [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church services were held in the [[Swedish language]] well into the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oldswedes.org/ |title=Old Swedes Episcopal Church, Wilmington, DE |access-date=2007-11-05 |archive-date=2007-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013000158/http://www.oldswedes.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[John Hansson Steelman]] provided significant donations which enabled the construction of the church, including £320 for the purchase of land for the church at Fort Christina and for the building of the church, £220 by loans and £100 by gift he received in return the promise that he and his wife would be buried within the church, which was not done, as they moved to Pennsylvania in the 1730s.<ref name = "Craig">{{Cite web |url=http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html |title=Peter Stebbins Craig, "The John Hans Steelman House At Elkton, MD Falling To Ruins," ''Swedish Colonial News,'' Volume 1, Number 10. Fall 1994 |access-date=2021-11-22 |archive-date=2009-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129102400/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Steelman.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1697, the [[Church of Sweden]] renewed its commitment to Swedish settlers in the [[Delaware Valley]] and sent three missionaries, Jonas Auren, [[Erik Björck|Eric Bjork]], and [[Andreas Rudman]], to the area.<ref name=touring>{{cite book |last=Winquist |first=Alan |title=Touring Swedish America, Second Edition: Where to Go and What to See |year=2009 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |isbn=9780873517041 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjCDA-6esWsC&pg=PA10 |author2=Jessica Rousselow-Winquist}}</ref> A total of three churches with similar architecture were built or established by Swedish communities in the area about the same time. All are generally known as "Old Swedes" and later joined the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]. [[Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church]] in [[Philadelphia]] was founded in 1697 and the building was completed in 1700. [[Trinity Church (Swedesboro, New Jersey)|Trinity Church]] in [[Swedesboro, New Jersey]] was founded in 1703, with its current building completed in 1784.

[[File:Holy Trinity Church, Seventh and Church Street, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE HABS DEL,2-WILM,1- (sheet 4 of 7).png|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Historic American Buildings Survey|HABS]] architectural drawing of the church]]
Five other Swedish churches were founded in the 18th century: [[St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church]] in [[North East, Maryland]]; [[Old St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church]] in [[Douglassville, Pennsylvania]]; St. George's Episcopal in [[Churchtown, New Jersey]]; [[St. James Kingsessing]] in Philadelphia; and Christ Church (Old Swedes) in [[Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania|Upper Merion Township]], Pennsylvania.<ref name=touring/>

Holy Trinity in Wilmington has housed an Episcopal parish since 1791 and is now part of the [[Episcopal Diocese of Delaware]]. An earlier church in New Sweden was built in Swanwyck, near [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]] about 1662, which was replaced by a combined church and fort at Crane Hook in 1667.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/misc/mccullough_sacred1842.html |title=''Sacred Reminiscences in the Old Swedes' Church'' (by The Rev. John W. McCullough, Rector of Trinity Church (Wilmington, Del.: Printed by Porter & Naff, 1842 |access-date=2009-10-02 |archive-date=2010-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302211005/http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/misc/mccullough_sacred1842.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1958, the historic [[Hendrickson House]] was moved to the grounds of the church. The church building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.<ref name="nhlsum" /><ref name="nrhpinv">Richard Greenwood (July 22, 1975) {{NHLS url|id=66000261|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church}}, National Park Service and {{NHLS url|id=66000261|photos=y}} ''Accompanying 6 photos, exterior and interior, from 1967 and undated''</ref> Trinity Parish operates two church buildings in Wilmington, both listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]: the [[Trinity Episcopal Church (Wilmington, Delaware)|main building]] on North Adams,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071219025816/http://trinity.episcopaldelaware.org/about/past_present.html The Episcopal Church in Delaware | Trinity Parish Delaware]</ref> and Old Swedes at East 7th and Church Streets.

==Burials in churchyard==
Notable burials include:
*[[Alexis I. du Pont Bayard|Alexis Irenee du Pont Bayard]] (1918–1985), lieutenant governor of Delaware
*Elizabeth Bradford du Pont Bayard (1880–1975)
*[[James A. Bayard Jr.|James A. Bayard]] (1799–1880), U.S. Senator
*[[Richard H. Bayard|Richard Bayard]] (1796–1868), first mayor of Wilmington, U.S. Senator
*[[Thomas F. Bayard]], Sr. (1828–1898), secretary of state under President Cleveland
*[[Thomas F. Bayard, Jr.]] (1868–1942), U.S. Senator
*Dr. Joseph Capelle, a Revolutionary War veteran
*Catharina and Britta Cock (d. 1726)
*Major [[Peter Jaquett]], a Revolutionary War veteran
*The Right Reverend [[Alfred Lee (bishop)|Alfred Lee]], first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware
*[[Ignatius Cooper Grubb|Ignatius Grubb]] (1841–1927), justice of the Delaware State Supreme Court.
*[[George R. McLane]] (1819–1855), American physician and politician
*Captain [[Hugh Montgomery (sea captain)|Hugh Montgomery]], captain of the brig [[Nancy (1775)|''Nancy'']], raised the first [[American flag]] in a foreign port
*Elizabeth Montgomery, daughter of Captain Hugh Montgomery
*Hans Jurgen Smidt (1696-1753) and Mary Stalcop (1696-1750), ancestors of [[Devil Anse Hatfield]] of the [[Hatfield–McCoy feud|Hatfield-McCoy feud]].
*Carl Christopher Springer, first warden
*William Vandever (d. 1718), grave marked with the oldest legible stone
*[[Samuel White (U.S. politician)|Samuel White]] (1770–1809), U.S. Senator
*[[James Harrison Wilson]] (1837–1925) Union general in the Civil War
{{clear}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
Old Swedes Church engraving by John Sartain.jpg|"Swede's Church" by [[John Sartain]] (1845)
InteriorOldSwedesHabs.jpg|Interior of Old Swedes Church. From the Historic American Buildings Survey, Edward M. Rosenfeld, Photographer, April 20, 1934
Iron Letters Old Swedes.JPG|Iron letters on the east wall of the church dating from 1698, spelling in Latin "LUX-L.I. TENEBR ORIENS- EX ALTO" which translates to "Light from on high shines in the darkness"
Image:Delaware swedish tercentenary half dollar commemorative obverse.jpg|Old Swedes Church depicted on the 1937 [[Delaware Tercentenary half dollar]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, Delaware]]
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Delaware]]
*[[List of the oldest buildings in Delaware]]
* [[List of cemeteries in Delaware]]
*[[Oldest churches in the United States]]
* [[Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church]] — in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Old Swedes, Wilmington}}
*[http://www.oldswedes.org/ Old Swedes Foundation website]
*[https://trinityoldswedes.church/ Trinity Parish website]
*[https://www.nps.gov/frst/planyourvisit/old-swedes-historic-site.htm Old Swedes Historic Site] – National Park Service
*[http://www.colonialswedes.org/Churches/HolTri.html Swedish Colonial Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018112200/http://www.colonialswedes.org/Churches/HolTri.html |date=October 18, 2012 }}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=gJopf23dtTwC History of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church 1697-1773]
*[https://archive.org/details/historicchurche02wallgoog/page/n58 <!-- pg=20 --> Historic Churches of American] by Nellie Urner Wallington, 1907.
*{{HABS |survey=DE-9-2 |id=de0161 |title=Holy Trinity Church, Seventh & Church Street, Wilmington, New Castle County, DE |photos=8 |dwgs=8 |data=6 |supp=yes}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Delaware}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Delaware]]
[[Category:Episcopal church buildings in Delaware]]
[[Category:Churches in Wilmington, Delaware]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Delaware]]
[[Category:Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware]]
[[Category:1699 establishments in Delaware]]
[[Category:17th-century Episcopal church buildings]]
[[Category:Museums in Wilmington, Delaware]]
[[Category:History museums in Delaware]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1699]]
[[Category:First State National Historical Park]]
[[Category:Swedish-American history]]
[[Category:Swedish-American culture in Delaware]]
[[Category:New Sweden]]
[[Category:Churches in New Sweden]]