Saint Mary's Episcopal Church

HISTORY

St. Mary’s owes both parts of its name as well as its location to William Hamilton, a distinguished member of a once-famous Philadelphia family that owned a large tract of land in the open country beyond the Schuylkill. In 1808, he set aside two pieces of land in the newly developed “Hamilton Village” to provide sites for an Episcopal church and a Presbyterian one. On July 6, 1824, the cornerstone for the original church was laid by Bishop William White, and on the June 16, 1827 Bishop White came back for the consecration. By 1871 the congregation had grown so large that it needed a much larger building. The present church was completed in 1873. It is a good early example of the neo-Gothic standard that dominated American church architecture for the last half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. It is cruciform in shape, and the church’s High Altar “faces” East towards Jerusalem. There are two side chapels, north and south, St. Philip’s and All Saints, which has just been restored. The stained glass in St. Mary’s is a fairly comprehensive history of English and American stained glass artistry.

In 1890, the sanctuary was redesigned to accommodate an altar donated by William Henry Wetherill. The High Altar was designed by the Rev. J. Bloomington Wetherill and Sir Edward Burne-Jones as the Italian exposition piece for America’s Centennial in 1876. The reredos and altar are an amazing mosaic, composed entirely of tiny piece of Italian stone, marble, and pebbles fashioned into an intricate representation of the Life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ. It was all given by Dr. Wetherill as a memorial of his brother and mother. The church is on the register of the Philadelphia Historical Commission.