| Christ Episcopal Church | |
|---|---|
St. Mary's Parish (1765) | |
 Christ Episcopal Church (at right), circa mid-1900s | |
 | |
| Location | Reading, Pennsylvania |
| Address | 435 Court Street, Reading, Pennsylvania 19601 |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Denomination | Episcopal Church (United States) |
| Website | http://rdgchristchurch.org/live/ |
| History | |
| Former name(s) | Christ Church (1815) |
| Founded | 1763 (congregation begun) 1823 (formal ministry) 1824 (Episcopal Diocese acceptance) 1825-1826 (church construction) |
| Founder(s) | Rev. Alexander Murray (church mission, 1763) Rev. Robert Davis (first rector, 1823) |
| Dedicated | May 10, 1826 (official church consecration) |
| Earlier dedication | June 8, 1825 (cornerstone laid) |
Christ Episcopal Church, founded in 1763,[1][2] is the oldest, English-speaking, religious congregation in Reading, Pennsylvania.[3][4] The church is located on the northwest corner of Fifth and Court Streets. Its nave was built c. 1826.[5]
Its church ledgers have recorded the membership of multiple prominent Pennsylvanians, including De Benneville Randolph Keim, a nineteenth-century journalist who served as an advisor to Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding general of the Union Army during the American Civil War,[6] and David McMurtrie Gregg, an American Civil War-era major general who won fame for gallantry during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.[7]
- ^ Montgomery, Morton L. History of Berks County in Pennsylvania, pp. 357-357, 548, 783-787, 834-836, 1156. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886. OCLC 11333191
- ^ Montgomery, Morton L. Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania: Embracing a Concise History of the County and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families, Vol. I, pp. 201, 346, 361, 384, 391, 417, 568. Chicago, Illinois: J.H. Beers & Co., 1909. OCLC 16394867
- ^ Guenther, Karen. "A Faithful Soldier of Christ: The Career of the Reverend Dr. Alexander Murray, Missionary to Berks County, Pa. 1762-1778," in Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 5-20, March 1986. Appleton, Wisconsin: Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, retrieved online May 15, 2019.
- ^ "About Christ Episcopal Church." Reading, Pennsylvania: Christ Episcopal Church (website), retrieved online May 15, 2019.
- ^ Lynch, Michelle. "Project taking inventory of houses of worship in Reading." Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading Eagle, July 11, 2022.
- ^ "Christ Church Vestry." Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times and Dispatch, April 19, 1881, front page (subscription required).
- ^ "Gen. Gregg Dies and the City Mourns: Reading's First Citizen Passes Away, Aged 83 Years." Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Times, August 8, 1916, front page (subscription required).