Old Presbyterian Church - New Castle, Delaware
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 39.592 W 075° 33.752
18S E 451744 N 4390158
Historic Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Delaware.
Waymark Code: WMN87G
Location: Delaware, United States
Date Posted: 01/17/2015
Views: 1
The OLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, E. side of 2nd St. between Delaware and Harmony Sts., replaced in 1707 the earliest church building in New Castle, an old wooden structure believed to have been built by the Dutch in 1657, supporting the assertion that this is the oldest Calvinistic congregation in the country.
As originally built, the brick of the one-story church was without stucco. The small cupola tower above the hipped roof was added after 1800, replacing an even smaller one. Behind the old church, now used as a Sunday-school, is a well-kept lawn, believed to cover the early Dutch burying ground of New Castle. The new church (next door) was erected in 1854.- Delaware - A Guide to the First State, New Castle section, 1938, pg. 243-244
The new church built in 1854 had become unstable and unsafe by the 1940s and had to be razed. The early 1707 church building was still in a sound condition. The congregation agreed to restore the earlier church to its original design in 1950 and it continues to serve the congregation today. An education building was added in 1959.