History

The Church of England was established in Virginia.

Charles I granted 200 acres of land to Thomas Willoughby. This property in what is now downtown Norfolk encompassed the original 50 acre town site (1682), including the current St. Paul’s property.

The Elizabeth River Parish (created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1636 or 1637) established the first Anglican church of the new parish “at Mr. Seawell’s Pointe,” in the vicinity of the present Norfolk Naval Base.

Site selected for burying ground and church (this is the current St. Paul’s site).

“Ye Chappell of Ease” was built near the Elizabeth River in the area that is now downtown Norfolk (actual location is unknown but some historians place it on our present site). After the church at Sewell’s Point was closed, the “chapel of ease” became the first Elizabeth River Parish church.

Date of the oldest tombstone remaining in the churchyard in the 1902 survey. Its inscription reads “Here lies the body of Dorothy Farrell who deceased the 18th of January 1673”. She was originally buried at Weymouth or Sandy Point, Va., and her grave (or gravestone) was later moved to St. Paul’s, probably by the Rev. Nicholas Okeson in July 1875.

Norfolk becomes the seat of Norfolk county. No more than a dozen families are living in Norfolk at this point.

The second Elizabeth River Parish church (a brick and wood building) was built on the southeast corner of our churchyard near the current intersection of St. Paul’s Boulevard and City Hall Avenue.  It remained in use until approximately 1739 when the current building was completed.

Colonel William Byrd II of Westover and his companions worshiped in the second parish church on March 3, 1728, when they were on their way to assist in the surveying of the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina.

The church receives a charter on November 13th to establish a school for boys on property across Church Street (St. Paul’s Blvd.) from the church yard. What was initially called the Grammar School would be renamed Norfolk Academy in 1787.

Norfolk, growing in prosperity, is re-chartered as a borough on September 23rd. Samuel Boush was selected to be the first mayor, but he died before taking office. Norfolk was the only borough incorporated in colonial Virginia.

The Borough Church, the third parish church of Elizabeth River Parish (now St. Paul’s), was completed. It was the only house of worship in Norfolk until 1773 (and similarly our burial ground was the only public cemetery in Norfolk until the 1820′s).

In September the Board of Aldermen passed a resolution “that, for the future, the inhabitants of this Borough shall, to prevent any invasion or insurrection, be armed at the Church on Sundays, and other days of worship at Divine Service, under penalty of five shillings.”

French and Indian (Seven Years) War.

Church wall constructed (east side, now St. Paul’s Boulevard, and south side, now City Hall Avenue, are original). Bricks provided by Col. Samuel Boush.

Future president, George Washington stayed overnight in Norfolk on his return from a trip to the Great Dismal Swamp. Tradition says that since George Washington was in Norfolk on a Sunday (May 29, 1763), he likely attended Morning Prayer at the Borough Church, now St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

A branch of the Sons of Liberty was formed in Norfolk on March 31 to protest the Stamp Act (1765). The effort was led by the Rev. Thomas Davis and included many members of the Borough Church.

The “Boston Massacre”. Crispus Attucks was the first African American to die in the cause of American freedom.

In September, John Murray (Lord Dunmore) became the last colonial Governor of Virginia.

Revolutionary War

On December 9, at the Battle of Great Bridge, Virginia and North Carolina militia defeated British Royal Governor Lord Dunmore and forced him to retreat to his warships in the Elizabeth River off Norfolk. His “floating city” of about 70 vessels also housed many of the Loyalist businessmen and families of Norfolk.

Between three and four o’clock in the afternoon on January 1st, Lord Dunmore, in retaliation for Norfolk’s refusal to supply provisions for his ships, ordered his fleet to fire on the town. The bombardment covered the entire waterfront. A cannonball, reputedly fired from the British twenty-eight gun frigate “Liverpool”, lodged in the church wall. Over the next two days, both British troops and Virginia and Carolina militiamen destroyed about two-thirds of the town. To prevent the British from occupying the town’s strategic location, Colonel Robert Howe’s colonial troops plundered and burned the remainder of the town on February 6. Only the walls of the Borough Church remained standing. Borough Church/St. Paul’s Church is the only pre-revolutionary building remaining in downtown Norfolk today.

The Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was accepted by the Continental Congress on July 4. On July 25 the Declaration of Independence was read on the courthouse steps in Williamsburg.

Hessian soldiers occupying Norfolk briefly use the thick, brick walls of the gutted building and church yard as a fort before marching to Yorktown.

General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army of 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown on October 19.

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, officially ended the Revolution and established American independence.

In October, the Virginia Assembly permits the holding of a lottery, to raise a maximum of $700, to rebuild the Borough Church of Elizabeth River Parish. The church was restored, including a new roof, and returned to active use in 1786.

The U.S. Constitution was drafted in Philadelphia. Virginia ratified the constitution on June 25, 1788, becoming the 10th state in the union.

The Borough Church is divided by two feuding congregations with two rectors. One faction formed Christ Church (now Christ & St. Lukes Church) while the other retained the building until 1803.

A mock funeral commemorating of the death of George Washington was held in the Borough Church on February 22.

The Rev. William Bland died in May, and the Borough Church congregation scattered. Christ Church retained the title to the Borough Church property.

The building and property are occupied by Norfolk’s first Baptist congregation (a racially mixed congregation that was the predecessor to both First Baptist Church of Norfolk Kempsville and First Baptist Church of Norfolk Bute St.). They continued to worship there until 1827.

War of 1812

The Battle of Craney Island was fought on June 22nd. A victory for the United States during the War of 1812, the battle saved the city of Norfolk, and the adjacent city of Portsmouth, from British invasion.

Christ Church burned on March 9, and the congregation again used the old Borough Church building until its new building on East Freemason and Cumberland Streets was completed in 1828 (consecrated November 9). The old building was then used as a Sunday School for Christ Church until 1831.

By ordinance passed by the Common Council on August 7, the old burying ground at the Borough Church was closed to further burials of anyone except immediate relatives of those already buried there. Also in 1827 the Borough established a new public burying ground (now Cedar Grove Cemetery).

In 1832, Rev. Henry W. Ducachet of Christ Church and his congregation took responsibility for the rehabilitation of the old church. After work is completed in 1833, Bishop Richard Channing Moore reconsecrated it under the name Saint Paul’s Episcopal.

All interments in the “old burying ground” St. Paul’s Church yard were prohibited.

Norfolk was incorporated as a City under Virginia legislation (February 13). It encompassed 13 square miles.

Mexican-American War

A cannonball, believed to be the one that had originally been lodged in the wall of the church, was discovered under ground beneath the depression in the wall. The vestry appointed a committee to have the ball permanently fixed in the wall of the church. It remains there today.

The ocean steamer Ben Franklin arrives in Hampton Roads with Yellow Fever on board. One third of the city’s residents died including Rev.Wm. M. Jackson, rector of St. Paul’s (Episcopal) Church, who gave his life assisting those afflicted. The Jackson Orphan Asylum for children of yellow fever victims was founded in his honor by St. Paul’s and Christ Churches.

In April Virginia became the eighth state to secede from the Union. The church was reorganized as the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States by Bishop William Meade. Returned to the PEC of the United States in 1866.

The first battle between ironclads – the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor – was fought in Hampton Roads nearby. The USS Merrimac, rebuilt as an ironclad and renamed Virginia, was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Mayor William Lamb (a parishoner of St. Paul’s) surrendered the City to Union troops. Federal forces under the command of General Benjamin Butler occupied Norfolk until 1865. St. Paul’s Church is used as a chapel for the Union Army from Oct. 1863 – Nov. 1865.

Robert E Lee attended services at St. Paul’s on May 4. Lee was staying at the home of Dr. William E. Selden (Surgeon General of the Confederate Army).

Parishioners of Christ Church and Saint Paul’s Church formed St. Luke’s Guild on May 5 to do missionary, educational, and charity in the community. This soon became St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (1872).

A three-tiered Victorian cast iron fountain was installed in the south churchyard. It was manufactured by J.W. Fiske and Company of New York. The maker’s mark is on the large bottom bowl.

The filling of Town Back Creek between Granby Street and the City Hall/Courthouse (now MacArthur Memorial) was completed, and City Hall Avenue was developed. Cove Street was later widened and incorporated into an extension of City Hall Avenue to Church Street (St. Paul’s Blvd.)

Description of Old St. Paul’s. “This old church and its God’s acre compose our Westminster Abbey. Here the worthy forefathers of our borough sleep”. Robert W. Lamb, Our Twin Cities . . ., p.150.

The Lamb stained glass window, made by the Hermann Company, was installed in the nave by Col. William Lamb in memory of his wife Sarah Chaffee and their son William. (Hermann was trained by Tiffany).

The Leigh stained glass window, made by Tiffany Studios, was installed in memory of Sarah Frances Leigh by her husband Capt. Robert B. Pegram.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is included as a featured attraction during the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition in 1907.

On November 19 Saint Paul’s was visited by the First Lady of the United States. Helen Herron Taft was in Norfolk with her husband William Howard Taft, our 27th President (1909-1913). She took a tour of Norfolk, including Saint Paul’s, with her sister Mrs. Thomas Laughlin.

Parish House (St. Paul’s Memorial Hall) built in the Georgian revival style. The building was begun in the summer of 1909 and was completed in the spring of 1910. It was reported as built at a cost of between $18,000 and $19,000.

Captain Louis Mountbatten of the British Royal Navy was at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. “On one of his trips to Norfolk, Lord Mountbatten was taken to see the Colonial cannonball imbedded in the wall of St. Paul’s Church. After inspecting the shot fired in 1776 by British ships under Lord Dunmore, Mountbatten quipped: ‘Hahnnh! Damn near missed it, didn’t he?'”

On November 18 General Douglas MacArthur, with his wife and son, attended a morning service at Saint Paul’s. Afterwards they participated in the dedication of a memorial park on the site of Riveredge in Berkley, the home of his mother Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur.

Borough Church/Old St. Paul’s Church recorded in Historic American Buildings Survey in January.

GEN Douglas MacArthur’s funeral service was held at St. Paul’s on April 11th. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and his wife attended representing the president.

The Laying Up of Ship’s Colors ceremony was held at St.Paul’s for the USS Norfolk on May 22nd.

St. Paul’s Church was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register (#122-0025) and the National Register of Historic Places (#71001058).

The Bishop of London was present to help St. Paul’s celebrate the Bicentennial of the American Revolution. He preached a sermon here on Thursday January 1, 1976 (Ecumenical Service of Thanksgiving).

On May 9 St. Paul’s celebrated the 150th anniversary of the renaming of the church (on May 7, 1832).

An 18th century reredos, (c. 1750’s) was given to St. Paul’s by St. John’s Church in Hampton. It was restored and installed in St. Paul’s. This reredos, or altar piece, was originally made for Stratton Major Parish Church in King and Queen County. When that church was demolished in the 19th century, the reredos was placed in St. John’s Church in West Point. It was too large for the building, blocking the windows. Then it was given to St. John’s Church in Hampton, which could not use it because it would have required extensive renovations.

The Borough Church 250th anniversary was celebrated this year. The first anniversary service was held January 29 (Saint Paul’s Sunday). It emphasized the spiritual and secular roles of the church. Mayors and other City officials were preceded in procession by the 1753 Norfolk civic mace, as was the colonial custom. A video (VHS) was produced.

Ten colonial style clear glass windows were installed in the church, replacing Austrian colored glass windows that had been added during a Victorian restoration

The City’s Update to the Downtown Norfolk 2000 Plan proposed the Cannonball Trail, a new pedestrian heritage trail connecting historic sites, historic markers, major districts, and contemporary attractions in downtown. The trail’s namesake is the St. Paul’s cannonball.

The Cannonball Trail, connecting historic sites and public attractions in downtown Norfolk, was dedicated on June 30 at St. Paul’s.

The dedication concert for the new M. Foscue and Clara P. Brock Memorial Organ, held November 18 was performed by internationally acclaimed concert organist Thomas Trotter. Mr. Trotter was appointed City Organist for Birmingham, England in 1983, where he is also Artistic Advisor and Resident Organist at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. The organ was dedicated earlier that Sunday (November 18) at the 10:30 service.

In July Saint Paul’s acquired a bell, through Bishop Hollerith, from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Cochran, Virginia, which had been deconsecrated in 2008. It was made in 1917 by the McShane Bell Foundry Company of Baltimore. The inscription on the front of the bell reads “Whene’er the sweet church bell peals over hill and dell, may Jesus Christ be praised.” The bell was restored in December.

On December 21 our recently acquired bell was installed on the chapel roof by the McShane Bell Foundry Company of Baltimore. It has been programmed to ring on the hour from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday and before the two Sunday services. It can also be rung for weddings, funerals, and other special events.

On February 23 an 18th century service and re-enactment was held in the church by Timothy Platek, portraying the Reverend/Chaplain Thomas Davis, rector of the Borough Church 1773-1776.

On June 16 Saint Paul’s held a Shindig to welcome the Rt. Rev. Fanuel Magangani, Bishop of Northern Malawi in Central Africa. At our June 18 service, Bishop Magangani was our preacher and celebrant.