Christ Reformed Church, the Greek Revival church on Main Street that lost a word from its stone

Christ Reformed Church, the German Reformed Church when it was built, fronts the south side of Main Street in Alexandria about 20 feet west of Church Street. The Historic American Buildings Survey recorded it in 1988 as HABS PA-5412 and called it a modest Greek Revival church that has stayed largely unaltered.

Africa's 1883 history gives the founding. Between November 5, 1843 and October 1, 1852 the Rev. Samuel H. Reid was pastor of the Water Street charge, and in his time the charge was divided into three congregations, called locally Keller's, Sinking Valley and Alexandria, each with its own organization under one minister. On April 13, 1846, John G. Stewart conveyed a lot in trust for the Reformed congregation, and on it the church was erected in 1849: a large two-story brick with steeple and bell, room for five hundred worshipers, not consecrated until 1851. Africa lists the Alexandria membership by family, among them Harnish, Huyett, Isenberg, Knode, Neff and Piper, and a few years after the division counts 145 confirmed members and 163 baptized, 308 in all.

The survey adds what stood on the lot before. The Hart's Log Presbyterians had a brick church here, used until they moved to the White Church in Alexandria, and the survey says the first brick building was sold to James Wilson in 1833. Africa tells the rest of that story: the Hart's Log and Alexandria congregations agreed terms of reunion on November 15, 1830, taking effect the first of January following. The dedication stone above the door originally read \"German Reformed Church 1851\"; the survey says the word \"German\" was reportedly chipped away during the First World War, and a modern stained glass transom now reads \"Christ Reformed Church.\" Africa's 1883 history heads its account \"Christ's Reformed Church of Alexandria,\" and the survey reads that as the name in use by 1881.

Inside, the sanctuary fills the second floor with fifteen rows of pews, four of them stepped on risers against the north wall, under a coffered plaster ceiling and four brass chandeliers. The stained glass windows are alike in color and design and differ in the names inscribed on them, and those names, the survey says, belong to the Harnish, Isenberg, Neff and Piper families. In 1881 Africa lists Benjamin Isenberg and John H. Kennedy superintending a Sabbath school of 160.

The dedication stone set into the recessed brick panel above the front door originally read "German Reformed Church 1851," but the word "German" was reportedly chipped away during World War I when anti-German sentiments ran high.Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, German Reformed Church, written data pages, HABS PA-5412 data pages, p. 3 (Alterations and additions) · character 3,382 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-09-05 · Library of Congress survey record, read in full

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