1851 - St Peter Catholic Church - Charlotte NC - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

St. Peter's Catholic Church is located at 507 S Tryon Street. St. Peter's beautiful meditation garden opens onto The Green, a vibrant public space, inviting a pause for reflection. The present sanctuary was built in 1893 in the Victorian Gothic style, replacing the original church building that was damaged in the Civil War (and that took the next 41 years to become unsafe). That orphan cornerstone is inset in the front plaza at St. Peter's.

From the church website: (visit link)

"When several hundred Charlottteans, half of whom were not Catholics, watched the Rev. J.J. O’Connel lay the cornerstone for the original Saint Peter’s Catholic Church in 1851, they saw the cornerstone of Catholicism in Charlotte put into place.

“For 90 years it was the only Catholic church in the city. It’s easy to interpret this church’s role in the city in light of the name Jesus gave Peter…Rock,” said the Rev. John Haughey, SJ, a former pastor. “Since the beginning Jesus has built his church on people whose faith was rock solid. They were a century ago. They still are.”

Benedictine monks were among those early ‘rocks’ at St. Peter’s. In 1892 the Rev. Francis Meyer, OSB, became pastor. He was the first of six Benedictine monks to serve St. Peter’s.
The original building stood for 41 years before it became structurally unsafe. A munitions explosion at the close of the Civil War had damaged the foundation. In 1893 the cornerstone was laid for the building that now stands at the corner of South Tryon and First Street. . . ."

Year of construction: 1851 Cross-listed waymark: [Web Link] Full inscription: St Peter's Church A.D. 1851.

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