St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Burlington, New Jersey)

St. Mary's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal parish in Burlington, Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. The original church was built in 1703. It was supplemented with a new church on adjacent land in 1854. On May 31, 1972, the new church was added to the National Register of Historic Places and on June 24, 1986, it was declared a National Historic Landmark. It is within the Burlington Historic District.

It is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. The church reported 157 members in 2023; no membership statistics were reported nationally in 2024 parochial reports. Plate and pledge income reported for the congregation in 2024 was $217,967. Average Sunday attendance (ASA) in 2023 was 68 persons.

Old church In 1695 settlers acquired land for a cemetery at West Broad and Wood streets. In 1702 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts sent Anglican missionaries from England to New Jersey. One of them, John Talbot, became rector of St. Mary's Church (built in 1703) in 1705.James Thayer Addison, The Episcopal Church in the United States 1789-1931, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951, p. 47Robert Wm. Duncan, Jr., "A Study of the Ministry of John Talbot in New Jersey, 1702-1727: On "Great Ripeness" Much Dedication, and Regrettable Failure", Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Sept. 1973), pp. 233-256 It is the first and oldest Episcopal congregation in New Jersey.

As the congregation grew, parishioners decided to build a new, larger church. They commissioned Richard Upjohn to design it. In 1846, construction began on adjoining land at 145 West Broad Street. It was consecrated in 1854.

New church

New St. Mary's Church was constructed between 1846 and 1854. It is one of the earliest attempts in the United States to "follow a specific English medieval church model for which measured drawings existed." This Gothic Revival-style church was designed by Richard Upjohn, who modeled it after St. John's Church in Shottesbrooke, England. It helped to firmly establish Upjohn as a practitioner of Gothic design.Churches of England It is a massive brownstone church with a long nave. The crossing is topped by a tall stone spire that has eight bells cast in England in 1865 by Thomas Mears II at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.Intensive Level Architectural Survey, McCabe & Associates, 2002 It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Fire

In 1976 while renovations were being done to the church a mistake made by one of the workers led to a fire which caused extreme roof and interior damage. The fire was discovered in the early hours of April 15, 1976, Holy Thursday. Eventually, a general alarm fire was declared bringing hundreds of firemen from Burlington City, Burlington Township, Beverly-Edgewater Park, and Willingboro in New Jersey as well as Bristol across the bridge in Pennsylvania.

Gallery

Notable burials Joseph Bloomfield (1753–1823), Governor of New Jersey.New Jersey Governor Joseph Bloomfield , National Governors Association. Accessed August 21, 2007. Elias Boudinot (1740–1821), President of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783.Elias Boudinot, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 21, 2007. William Bradford (1755–1795), United States Attorney General Daniel Coxe, Governor of West Jersey George Washington Doane (1799–1859), second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.George Washington Doane , Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard. Accessed August 21, 2007. Rowland Ellis Edward Burd Grubb Jr. (1841–1913), American Civil War Brevet Brigadier General.E. Burd Grubb , St. Mary's Churchyard. Accessed August 21, 2007. Franklin D'Olier, founder of the American Legion James Kinsey (1731–1803), Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1789 to 1803.James Kinsey, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 21, 2007. Joseph McIlvaine (1769–1826), represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 1823 to 1826.Joseph McIlvaine, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 21, 2007. William Milnor (1769–1848), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and Mayor of Philadelphia.William Milnor, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 15, 2007. William H. Odenheimer, third Bishop of New Jersey Isabel Paterson (1886–1961), libertarian author. John H. Pugh (1827–1905), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district from 1877 to 1879.John Howard Pugh, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 15, 2007. Garret D. Wall (1783–1850), United States Senator from 1835 to 1841.Garret Dorset Wall, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 15, 2007. James Walter Wall (1820–1872), United States Senator and Mayor of Burlington, New Jersey.James Walter Wall, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 15, 2007.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Burlington, New Jersey)

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