Our History

St. Peter's Church architecture is of the Federal Period. It is attributed to the famed Connecticut architect, David Hoadley, who incorporated details that included the arched ceiling and palladium windows. The church structure originally nestled close to the ground and sat on a very small parcel of land purchased in the late 18th Century. Prior to 1807, local Episcopalians journeyed to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Ripton, now Huntington Center to attend church services, a considerable distance by foot, horse, or horse and wagon. St. Peter's became a mission church of St. Paul's and shared the same minister until 1811.

According to Edward Coffey, parish historian, there were many wealthy Episcopalians connected with the first years of the church. Captain William Clarke gave a half bushel of silver dollars to help pay for the construction of the church. Other early prime contributors of the church were the Hurd, Sherman, Shelton, and Beardsley families. The first bell for the church belfry was donated by Mrs. Lucy Shelton Beardsley in 1812. Unfortunately, she died before it could be installed. Instead it tolled for her between a team of oxen. Besides calling its church members to gather for services, the church bell had another duty to perform. Whenever someone died, the bell would toll the age of the departed. When the funeral procession began, the bells tolled again.

Lillian Wheeler, a life long member of St. Peter's Church, was born in Monroe in 1869 to Frederick W. Wheeler and Estrelle Brewster Wheeler. In 1941, she wrote down many recollections about St. Peter's including a memorable Christmas Eve when she was a small child in her beloved church. Her mother, who was a trained soprano born and raised in New York City, was to sing Christmas Carols. She wrote, "Will you pardon me if I - for I am proud of it still - give you this tiny tribute to her voice? But of course my mother, Estrelle Brewster Wheeler, had been educated in music from childhood up to a year before her marriage to my father. Her voice was rare and beautiful. All nearby churches were closed in her honor. People gathered from near and far. Alas! The church could not accommodate them all- so the doors were thrown open. It was snowing steadily and many had to stand out in the open. I was but a small child but whenever I hear 'Glory to God in the Highest' or 'Shout Glad Tidings Messiah is King' that night and the memory of that angelic voice come back to me."

Lillian Wheeler wrote also of the greening of the church at Christmas time. "The tying of the greens was most eventful in many ways, often taking two weeks to accomplish, weaving the long garland together reaching the entire length of the church. Often a happy marriage resulted eventually and lovers, straying into corners or box pews to sit by themselves. Those were times of joy and laughter," she said.

For years, St. Peter's desired to expand and in the 1920s took its only option - to go upward. The church was raised approximately four feet and a space was dug out below it, mainly by hand with the help of teams of horses and wagons that entered through a wide hole under one side of the church and carried excavated material out the other side. Samuel Swendsen, a long time parishioner, was quoted as saying that the entire project was completed "without cracking the plaster in the sanctuary." The space under the church could accommodate a parish hall, meeting room, kitchen, and bathroom facilities. (see note below) His daughter, Marge Swendsen Derle, remembers that her parents supplied chickens and her mother cooked many chicken pot pies that were served at St. Peter's Chicken Pie Suppers to raise funds for costs of building the undercroft. She and other children helped serve the pot pies and people came from miles around to attend. She also recalled that when the undercroft was completed, she and her Sunday school classmates presented biblical plays in the new parish hall. Marge said that "after the Christmas pageant her father made sure each child received an orange which was a big deal 80 years ago."

The sanctuary has changed over the years. It was first heated by wood burning stoves located in the back of the church. Fire wood was supplied by the worshipers. Two very large hot pipes extended the length of the church on either side, carrying the heat forward. The doors on pew boxes kept out drafts. In winter, families put a blanket over their laps and had foot warmers. In the early days of the church, no one cooked on Sunday for the Sabbath. Food was prepared the day before and brought along with the families to church. After the morning service, the families could eat and then attend the afternoon services before going home.

Lillian Wheeler said she "often regretted that my father Frederick W. Wheeler, whose whole heart and soul was so closely connected with the life workings of St. Peter's Church, could have seen the parish hall - the furnace and also the electric lighting. I can imagine the radiance on his dear brow if he could see the progress the church has made..."

In the 1890s, Victorian 'modernizing' of the original Puritanical appearance began. Stained glass windows including one by Louis C. Tiffany and Company were installed between the 1890s and 1960. They were donated in memory of former members of the church. These windows replaced 12-over- 12 clear paned blown glass windows. During this renovation period both side galleries were removed from the second floor. All the original box pews were removed from the first floor giving way to a new center isle and open pews. Two handsome brass chandeliers were installed in 1846 by a former church member and taken from his Manhattan mansion. They were originally oil-burning lamps but were electrified along with the rest of the building in 1939.

The memorial gifts, donations, renovations, and repairs are the outward symbols of St. Peter's history and represent the lives and faithfulness of the people who have gathered to worship under one roof for over two hundred years.

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Credits: Edward N. Coffey, Town of Monroe Historian and St. Peter's Church Historian, Monroe Historic District Study Committee Report, 1977, The Bridgeport Post, Jan. 2, 1944, Judy Hamilton, Parish Secretary, St. Peter's Church Records.
This article was written by Nancy Zorena on 12/28/2005 for volume 1,issue 33 of The Chronicle.