History

A Brief History of St. Peter’s, Charlotte, North Carolina

Considered by many to be the “mother church” of the region, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church was the first Episcopal Church in Charlotte, organized in 1834 and recognized as a parish in the Diocese of North Carolina in 1844. Area churches including St. Martin’s, Holy Comforter, St. Mark’s, St. Michaels, St. Paul’s in Monroe, and Christ Church all trace their roots to St. Peter’s.

The current building at West Seventh and North Tryon streets was completed in 1895. Construction began under the direction of then rector and later Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., in 1893. The Parish House and chapel were added in 1912; the nave was renovated in 1951 and again in 2010; and an education and office building was added in 1998. When the church was completed in 1895, the congregation acted to open its doors every day as a sanctuary for the people of Charlotte, a practice that continues today.

St. Peter’s impact on the community stretches back to its origins. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the congregation established two hospitals, then called St. Peter’s Hospital for the poor and Good Samaritan Hospital for blacks. Both were incorporated into what is now Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center. Grants assisted St. Peter’s in starting Thompson’s Orphanage, now Thompson Child and Family Focus. More recently the St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen, established in 1979, grew to include a number of downtown churches and now operates as Roof Above, serving the region’s poor and homeless in a variety of ways. Other outreach organizations launched from St. Peter’s include Samaritan House (post-operative respite for individuals who are homeless), Center City Concerts at St. Peter’s, and the Augustine Literacy Project.

In 1955 St. Peter’s leadership established an endowment, now with over $8 million pledged in legacy gifts. Each year the endowment provides further funding for community organizations in need and as catalyst for parish initiatives.

A rich choral music tradition, dating at least to the 1920s, involved separate choirs for boys, girls, and adults. Choirs for young people were re-established in 1992 as the Choir School at St. Peter’s, now Charlotte Choir School. The school serves nearly 100 choristers, ages 7 to 18, from across the region. The St. Peter’s Choir for adults has forty volunteer members. The 2010 renovation of the church included the installation of the Van Ness Hamrick Organ, C. B. Fisk Opus 136, a three-manual mechanical action pipe organ. Congregation and choir join in singing the songs and psalms of the church from the earliest Christian chant to hymns and anthems more recently composed.

Christian formation programs for young people are nationally recognized and emulated by many other churches in the region, especially Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Journey to Adulthood. Each prepares young people for engaged Christian lives in the twenty-first century. The youth teens participate in mission trips, outreach camps, and pilgrimages.

A lively, energetic, and welcoming congregation, St. Peter’s is a Eucharist-centered parish in the heart of center city or “uptown” Charlotte.