The Quakers crossed the Atlantic with Wm. Penn, and soon found their way into what is now Lancaster County. John Kennerly settled near Christiana in 1691. The first Friends meeting house was erected by Sadsbury Quakers in 1725. The Bart meeting house, erected 100 years later, represented the views of the Hicksite Friends. In 1758 the Penn Hill meeting house was built. The Quaker meeting house at Bird-in-Hand dates from 1749, the same year in which the Lampeter meeting house was built.
The Church of Our Father (Unitarian) was a rather late arriver in Lancaster. It was organized in 1902, and the stone church on West Chestnut Street was dedicated in 1909. The lecture hall in connection with the church was named Emerson Hall.
Independent congregations like the First Baptist, Calvary Independent, Seventh Day Adventists, Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal Association, Christian Scientists, and Latter Day Saints have substantial church buildings in Lancaster. To this group we may add the Monastic Orders of provincial Ephrata, with their remarkable buildings at the Cloister. These Seventh Day Baptists, with their Prayer Hall, (The Saal), built about 1734, are unique in American history and folklore.
The first Roman Catholic Mission in Lancaster was established in 1741. A log church was built in 1742 on the site of the present St. Mary’s Convent. Father Keenan served St. Mary’s Church for more than half a century. St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s followed in the 19th century. St. Peter’s of Elizabethtown was founded in 1752. A number of Catholic churches are to be found in the boroughs of the county, and impressive churches have been erected in the city.
The Jewish faith has been established in Lancaster since 1732. The first organized congregation of Jews in Pennsylvania met at the home of Joseph Simon, a Lancaster merchant. Later they met in a building on the northwest corner of North Queen Street and Centre Square. The first Temple was built in 1866, and the present structure at Duke and James Streets was dedicated in 1896.
In the nature of the case, we must forego reference to most of the individual churches in the Lancaster area, in this brief outline. My purpose in writing this article has been to impress on the public the fact that religion since early colonial and provincial days has been a vital factor in the area of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
DONEGAL CHURCH AND WITNESS TREE
In June, 1777, the members of Donegal Church (est. 1719), one of the major centers of early American Presbyterianism, forced their pastor, Mr. McFarquhar, to gather with them under the tree outside the Church and “bear witness” to support of the sacred cause of the American Revolution. The “Witness Tree,” a fine old oak, and the church, still stand. Both may be visited.