St.Peter's Episcopal Church was established as a mission in 1834 and became a parish in the episcopal diocese of North Carolina in 1844. The first church building was located on West Trade Street a few blocks from the square. The church purchased its current site on 7th and Tryon Street in 1858 and constructed a small wooden Gothic church. This building was replaced with the existing church in 1892, which was expanded in 1911 and 1998.
St.Peter's has a tradition of being a center of activity in Charlotte. In 1865, Jefferson Davis and his retreating confederate cabinet worshipped at St.Peter's following the assassination of President Lincoln, that day the church's rector preached a sermon on the great tragedy of the death of the president.
St.Peter's also has a long history of ministering to Charlotte. In 1878,The church founded St. Peter's Hospital. The church surrendered the hospital charter in 1938 and provided financial support and 30 acres of property on Morehead and Kings Drive and worked with the city of Charlotte to establish what today is know as Carolina's Medical Center. In 1888, The church formed Good Samaritan Hospital, one of the Nation's first hospitals for African Americans, which operated until 1961 on the site of Panthers Stadium. In 1979 the church founded St.Peter's soup kitchen, which moved from the church's parish hall in 1994 to Charlotte's urban ministry center located in the old Southern Railroad depot on North Tryon Street. The soup kitchen continues to feed hundreds of people daily.
St.Peter's is known as the "Mother Episcopal Church in Charlotte" and its clergy and members have played key roles in founding numerous Mecklenburg county Episcopal missions and churches. Please join us for worship services.
This marker was given in memory of Janet Hahn Jones and Jean Hahn Strohl.
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