Christian History of Erie, Pennsylvania

Megs Harrison

Introduction

Quaker theologian William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681 as a refuge for religious liberty and representative government. His original grant, however, did not include Presque Isle or the Erie region. In 1792, Pennsylvania acquired the 300-square-mile Erie Triangle from the federal government, securing access to Lake Erie and a strategic freshwater port. Three years later, the town of Erie was founded on the shores of Presque Isle.

Today, every neighborhood in Erie, Pennsylvania, features at least one church building. However, when the city emerged from the wilderness in 1795, Christians were few. Regular Protestant worship began soon after settlement and eventually grew into a network of churches that helped shape Erie's religious, educational, charitable, and civic life.

In 1810, Baptist missionary John Colby arrived on the Lake Erie frontier and discovered a settlement known more for irreligion than faith. Over the following decades, Erie developed from a frontier town described as wicked into a city shaped by revivalism, abolitionism, education, and public service under the influence of Protestant Christianity. As Colby traveled from Ohio toward Erie, he recorded the stark reality he encountered:

I was advised not to go to this place, as there is no religious society in [the town of Erie]—a noted place for wickedness. By some, for comparison, it was called Sodom [cf. Gen. 19]. They likewise told me that the people there would not hear me, and I was credibly informed that the people had previously fallen into a frenzy, burnt the Bible, and sprinkled the ashes with whiskey! I, however, made an appointment, and the people had reasonable notice. At the hour the meeting began, I walked through the main street, nearly half a mile, with my hat off, singing the judgment hymn, hoping to excite their attention. I then went to the appointed place and, after waiting an hour and a half, began the service. My audience consisted of three men, three women, and four children. A few more also came in before I finished. The Lord has mercy on the people of Erie if there is any mercy for them.​

Despite Colby's discouraging first impression, his account demonstrates that Protestant missionaries already regarded Erie as an important frontier mission field worthy of repeated visits. Colby returned repeatedly to northwestern Pennsylvania during his missionary travels, helping establish Baptist ministries throughout the region and leaving one of the earliest firsthand descriptions of Erie's religious condition.

Presbyterian missionary efforts soon followed. In 1799, Matthew McCurdy and James Stockton traveled through Erie, Waterford, and North East, preaching to settlers who had often gone years without regular public worship. These missionary efforts quickly bore fruit. In 1801, settlers at Middlebrook erected the first Protestant church building in Erie County after organizing one of the region's earliest Presbyterian congregations. Later that same year, approximately 300 people gathered at North East for the first recorded Protestant celebration of the Lord's Supper in Erie County, with about 40 communicants participating.

When Colby arrived in the Erie region during the early years of settlement, he encountered what he viewed as widespread irreligion and moral indifference. His preaching called residents to repentance and faith in Christ.

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First Protestant Worship in Erie County

Although not an ordained minister, Judah Colt—resident agent of the Pennsylvania Population Company—was among the most influential founders of Erie County. Appointed in 1796, he oversaw the settlement of the newly acquired Erie Triangle, directing the construction of roads, mills, and public buildings that supported the region's earliest communities. His home, known as Colt's Station in present-day Greenfield Township, became an important gathering place for the first settlers.

On July 2, 1797, because no ordained minister had yet settled in the region and no permanent congregations yet existed, settlers assembled at Colt's Station for what is generally regarded as the first Protestant religious service in Erie County. Rather than delivering his own message, Colt read one of the published sermons of Scottish minister Hugh Blair, illustrating how frontier communities preserved regular worship despite the scarcity of clergy. The service reflected the determination of Erie's earliest settlers to establish Christian worship before permanent churches, denominations, or church buildings had taken root.

Colt's influence extended beyond religion. He helped lay out roads, encouraged settlement, promoted agriculture, and served in several civic offices during the county's formative years. Although later generations would remember pastors who organized Erie County's first congregations, Colt's leadership ensured that public Protestant worship began before ordained ministers permanently settled the region.

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A Most Extensive Work of Grace

Many settlers arriving from New England brought their churches and religious traditions with them, establishing the first Protestant congregations in the newly accessible regions of northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. During this era, the original Erie County Courthouse, completed in 1808 near West Perry Square, served as a place of worship for both Episcopalians and Presbyterians because dedicated church buildings had not yet been constructed. Because Erie lacked dedicated church buildings, the courthouse functioned as the city's first shared Protestant worship space, illustrating the cooperative nature of frontier Christianity before denominations established permanent congregations. This brick courthouse became the principal gathering place for Erie's earliest Protestant community. The Presbyterian congregation later moved into the "Yellow Meeting House," one of Erie's earliest dedicated Protestant worship spaces. Across western Pennsylvania, a series of religious revivals was transforming frontier communities. Johnston Eaton, a Presbyterian minister in Franklin, observed:

From 1781 to 1787, a most extensive work of grace was experienced in the churches of Cross Creek, Upper Buffalo, Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, Bethel, Lebanon, Ten Mile, Cross Roads, and Millcreek, during which more than a thousand persons were brought into the kingdom of Christ. . . . From 1795 to 1799, another series of gracious visitations were enjoyed by the churches generally throughout western Pennsylvania, extending to the new settlements north of Pittsburgh.

From his home in Fairview Township, Eaton became the county's first resident Presbyterian missionary, regularly traveling among Fairview, Springfield, North East, Colt's Station, Middlebrook, Waterford, and Erie to preach and organize congregations. In 1802, Presbyterian minister Elisha McCurdy initiated a revival at his former church, Three Springs, which rapidly spread throughout western Pennsylvania. The revival transformed religious life in Erie by encouraging new congregations, Sunday schools, missionary work, and public reform. By 1808, these revival movements had significantly influenced the Erie region.

In 1811, Robert Reid organized Erie County's first permanent Protestant congregation—the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church—which initially met in homes and schoolhouses before erecting its own meetinghouse. The Associate Reformed congregation remained Erie's only permanently organized Protestant church until First Presbyterian was organized four years later in 1815. The growth of Protestant cooperation was further demonstrated by the organization of the Erie County Bible Society in 1824, with Eaton serving as president and Reid as vice president, uniting Protestant leaders in the common work of distributing the Scriptures. The revival's influence became especially evident in 1831, when the first major revival in Erie took place at First Presbyterian Church. Several of the converts either came from Baptist families or embraced Baptist convictions during the awakening. Within weeks, they organized the First Baptist Church of Erie on April 10, 1831, demonstrating how the revivals not only renewed existing congregations but also gave rise to new Protestant churches throughout the city.

As the historian Samuel P. Bates observed, the devotion of Erie's earliest Protestants was remarkable: "Men, women, and children in those primitive days thought nothing of riding ten to twenty miles over rough forest roads in the middle of winter to attend divine worship" (Bates 1884, p. 246).

The Second Great Awakening (1795–1835) ignited renewed Christian fervor throughout the United States, including western Pennsylvania. Methodist and Baptist churches experienced significant growth, with Erie following this trend. Methodist societies were established in Erie County as early as 1797. The community that later became the borough of Wesleyville took its name in honor of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. The Wesleyville Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1810, with its structures reconstructed in 1828 and 1927. This parish—now known as Wesley United Methodist Church—played a role in the Underground Railroad, providing refuge to formerly enslaved African Americans in its rafters as they sought freedom in Canada. Wesleyville was officially incorporated in 1912. Today, a shopping center stands at the original location, 3306 Buffalo Road, while the borough's founders are interred in the old Wesleyville Cemetery behind it.

In 1826, Episcopal liturgies began at the Erie County Courthouse, drawing Presbyterians from other congregations and gaining new converts through word of mouth. In Harborcreek Township, local Methodists established the Old Erie Circuit of the Baltimore Conference in 1827, which is now known as South Harborcreek United Methodist Church. In 1834, the Protestant Episcopal Church founded St. Paul's parish on Myrtle Street between West 7th and 8th Streets, featuring a brick church and graveyard. Its present Gothic structure, constructed in 1866 at a cost of $60,000 (approximately $1 million today), still stands. By 1850, Protestant congregations had established schools, orphan ministries, missionary societies, abolitionist organizations, Bible classes, and charitable institutions that permanently shaped the city's civic life. By the late nineteenth century, St. Paul's had also established several mission congregations throughout Erie, including St. John's Parish, Trinity Mission, Grace Mission, and the Church of the Cross and Crown. In 1915, St. Paul's became the first Protestant Episcopal cathedral in Pennsylvania.

By the latter half of the nineteenth century, the influence of Erie's earliest Protestant congregations could be measured not only by their own growth but also by the churches they helped establish. During the nineteenth century, First Presbyterian became a mother church for several Protestant congregations in Erie, including Park Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, Belle Valley Presbyterian, and contributing members to both St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the First Baptist Church. At the First Presbyterian Church's semicentennial celebration in 1875, pastor A. H. Carrier reflected on this legacy:

This church—we say it in no self-glorying spirit—has been by force of its position, at the foundation of the present religious life of this city. The Associate Reformed, now the United Presbyterian, shares this pre-eminence with it. This church, however, has been fruitful in colonies.

Before permanent church buildings dotted the landscape, Erie's earliest Protestants gathered for worship in homes, taverns, barns, schoolhouses, courthouses, and even the open woods, demonstrating that the Church on the frontier was built first upon faithful congregations rather than permanent structures.

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​Don't Give Up the Ship

Today, the Erie Maritime Museum preserves the Brig Niagara, the flagship on which United States Navy commander Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British Royal Navy. However, Perry's religious convictions are often overlooked. He became a member of Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island, was baptized at age 9, and was immediately confirmed by Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal bishop in the United States. Perry regarded the parson Theodore Dehon as an exemplar, emulating his sense of duty, decorum, tradition, and commanding presence. Today, Perry's motto, "Don't Give Up the Ship," remains one of Erie's most enduring symbols of perseverance.

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New Jerusalem

In 1827, Christian abolitionist William Himrod established a neighborhood known as "New Jerusalem" for African Americans who had escaped slavery in the South, as well as for impoverished white laborers in the area. The neighborhood's boundaries extended from the Bayfront to the north, 6th Street to the south, Cherry Street to the west, and Sassafras Street to the east. The name was inspired by the New Jerusalem described in Revelation, as recorded by the apostle John:

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' [cf. Isa. 25:8] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev. 21:3–4).

Himrod dedicated himself to alleviating the hardships faced by African Americans. In 1824, he established the French Street School for Colored Children, which later evolved into the Himrod Mission and served as a station on the Underground Railroad. By 1836, he became a member of the Erie County Anti-Slavery Society. Additionally, he founded Erie's first ironworks and played a key role in the incorporation of Erie Cemetery. For two decades, Himrod lived at the corner of French and 2nd Streets, where he educated African-American children. On December 22, 1839, Himrod organized the Himrod Mission Sunday School, providing biblical instruction and education to African-American children and low-income families. The mission became one of Erie's best-known expressions of evangelical social ministry. Himrod's civic leadership reflected his active role within the church as well; in 1857 he was elected a ruling elder of First Presbyterian Church.

The black community in New Jerusalem continued to uphold Himrod's legacy throughout the following century. The Lawrence family emerged as prominent figures: Earl Lawrence became the first black musician to perform with the Erie Philharmonic and served as a mentor to composer Harry T. Burleigh. Meanwhile, his daughter Ada distinguished herself as one of the first black educators in the Erie Public Schools. For further information on New Jerusalem, refer to Journey from Jerusalem: An Illustrated Introduction to Erie's African-American History, 1795–1995 (Erie County Historical Society, 1996) by Sarah S. Thompson.

In November 2023, the Harry T. Burleigh Society, Our West Bayfront, along with several other nonprofit organizations in Erie, erected a historical marker at the intersection of Sassafras and West 5th Streets to commemorate the New Jerusalem neighborhood. The marker states:

Erie's first African-American neighborhood, this nearly 30-block area located north of West 6th Street and west of Sassafras Street offered lots for early residents, welcomed freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, housed important small businesses, and provided a home field for the Pontiacs baseball team.

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What Death More Glorious!

St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Waterford, the oldest place of worship in Erie County, has conducted regular services since 1827, with its exterior largely unchanged except for a white tower. In 1833, Edward Buchanan, brother of future President James Buchanan, served as rector, leading the congregation in faith. Strong Vincent, baptized there in 1835, carried this spiritual foundation with him until his family relocated to Erie in 1843; a Bible given by his mother is now preserved in the church archives. Vincent attended Trinity College and Harvard before joining the Union Army during the Civil War. At Gettysburg, he commanded 1,300 infantrymen at Little Round Top, proclaiming, "What death more glorious can any man desire than to die on the soil of old Pennsylvania fighting for that flag!" Mortally wounded in battle, he passed away seven days later while reciting the Lord's Prayer.

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Coming for to Carry Me Home

The African-American composer Harry T. Burleigh began his musical journey singing in the choir at St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, subsequently performing at other local churches before relocating to New York in 1892. As the grandson of a formerly enslaved individual, Burleigh gained recognition for his classical adaptations of African-American spirituals, particularly "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," whose refrain—"coming for to carry me home"—symbolizes enduring hope. He collaborated with Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, integrating these spirituals into the classical music repertoire. Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary School, named in his honor, was dedicated on May 4, 1980, on East 11th Street. In 1894, Burleigh was appointed as a soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in New York, with financier J. P. Morgan casting the deciding vote. In 1994, Burleigh was "reinterred with an appropriate ceremony in the Erie Cemetery." Together, these churches, schools, missions, and Christian leaders transformed Erie from a frontier settlement into a city whose Protestant institutions shaped its religious, educational, and civic identity for generations.

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Christian Demographics of Erie

By the late nineteenth century, Erie had become known as the "City of Churches." Congregations representing Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, and other Protestant traditions dotted nearly every neighborhood, reflecting a dramatic transformation from the frontier settlement John Colby had once likened to "Sodom." Churches had become centers not only of worship but also of education, charity, missions, and civic leadership.

The Erie metropolitan area hosts approximately 227 Protestant congregations, representing both conservative and mainline traditions. In 2020, there were 104,751 residents identified as religious adherents, about 38.7 percent of the area's population of 270,876. Among these, mainline Protestants numbered approximately 24,481, evangelical Protestants 27,608, and historically black Protestants 2,652, resulting in a combined total of 54,741 Protestant adherents, or roughly 20.2 percent of the population. These statistics underscore the enduring presence of Protestant Christianity in the Erie region (Clifford et al., 2022).

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Bibliography​

Primary Sources

Bates, Samuel P. History of Erie County, Pennsylvania: Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matters. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884.

Colby, John. The Life, Experience, and Travels of John Colby, Preacher of the Gospel. Lowell, MA: Thurston & Watson, 1838.

Eaton, S. J. M. History of the Presbytery of Erie: Embracing in Its Ancient Boundaries the Whole of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Northeastern Ohio—with Biographical Sketches of All Its Ministers and Historical Sketches of Its Churches. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1868.

Root, James Pierce. Steere Genealogy. Cambridge, MA: Riverside, 1890.

Whitman, Benjamin, ed. Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Vol. 2. Erie, PA: Nelson, 1896.

"Obituary for Edward Young Buchanan."↗ Carlisle Evening Herald. January 23, 1895.

Local and Regional History

Erie: A Guide to the City and County—Written and Compiled by the Erie County Unit of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. London: Forgotten, 2018.

Skaggs, David Curtis. Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.S. Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013.

Snyder, Jean E. Harry T. Burleigh: From the Spiritual to the Harlem Renaissance. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2016.

Thompson, Sarah S. Journey from Jerusalem: An Illustrated Introduction to Erie's African-American History, 1795–1995. Erie, PA: Erie County Historical Society, 1996.

Denominational Works

Stevens, Lloyd P. A History of the First Free Will Baptist Church of Smithfield in Greenville, Rhode Island: A Pictorial History Directory. 1973.

Online Resources

Brooke-Stewart, Jeff. "John Colby, Preacher of the Gospel."↗ Chepachet Baptist Church.

Burdick, Jonathan. "The Story of the Erie Triangle."↗ Erie Reader. November 20, 2019.

Johnson, Johnny. "Black History."↗ Our West Bayfront. July 27, 2020.

Last, John. "Wesleyville Church Has a Remarkable History."↗ Erie News Now. August 28, 2025.

Myers, Valerie. "Remembering 'New Jerusalem.'"↗ Erie Times-News. February 15, 2018.

Sherry, Jeff. "Strong Vincent—'What Death More Glorious.'"↗ Hagen History Center (blog). August 28, 2020.

Weiser, Becky. "Happiness and Long Life for All Its Residents, no. 31."↗ Hagen History Center (blog). November 4, 2020.

"What's in a Name: Wesleyville Settlers Chose Name of Methodism's Founder."↗ Erie Times-News. April 5, 2010.

Digital Archives and Institutional Histories

Digital Collection, Holding Institution. "The Burned-Over District."↗ New York Heritage Digital Collections.

"History of the Church."↗ South Harborcreek United Methodist Church.

"History of Erie County."↗ Erie County, Pennsylvania.

Statistical Sources

Clifford A. Grammich et al. "Erie, PA Metro Area—Metro Area Membership Report (2020)."↗ In 2020 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Adherents Study. Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, 2022.