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Trinity Memorial Church | History & Culture Shorts

Trinity Memorial Church in Philadelphia.

Caption Text Below:    

00:10 - Everyone

00:11 - who wished to attend the church was welcome

00:14 - regardless of their.

00:16 - Race or.

00:19 - Creed or anything else about them.

00:22 - Hmm

00:30 - we're standing at the corner of twenty second and first rates

00:33 - in center city Philadelphia

00:36 - behind me is Trinity memorial

00:38 - episcopal church

00:40 - which was built in.

00:42 - Eighty ten seventy

00:44 - three

00:45 - and opened in eighteen seventy five.

00:54 - Funds for the church were provided by.

00:57 - Anna will stack.

01:00 - A

01:01 - Woman who lived.

01:03 - Just down about four blocks away.

01:06 - Rittenhouse square.

01:08 - In memory of her daughter Anna gertrude will stack who had died at the age of twenty.

01:16 - Anna provided

01:17 - fifty seven thousand dollars

01:20 - to build the church

01:21 - and that included.

01:24 - The cost of

01:26 - the stain glass windows and a very fine pipe organ.

01:31 - Next to the church

01:33 - is a

01:34 - school a private.

01:36 - Episcopal school

01:38 - that was built at the same time

01:41 - the funding for the school was provided by other members of holy Trinity

01:46 - church.

01:48 - Hmm

01:56 - I'm standing at the front of the church and behind me

02:00 - are our angels which we are very proud of.

02:04 - The angels.

02:06 - Were painted in.

02:08 - The early nineteen hundreds.

02:11 - And they are based on paintings.

02:14 - In a

02:15 - church in Florence Italy.

02:18 - That were done by the.

02:20 - Famous renaissance painter fra Angelica.

02:25 - Miraculously.

02:27 - The angels.

02:28 - Survived the fire

02:31 - intact

02:32 - which we're very grateful for.

02:35 - Originally when the church opened

02:37 - much of it was decorated in

02:40 - bright colors with

02:43 - stencils and inscriptions.

02:46 - All

02:46 - over the walls

02:48 - and you can see a little remnant of that

02:51 - in the column behind me.

02:55 - We don't know much about Anna's early life except that she was born in.

03:01 - Lower Dublin township which

03:03 - is

03:04 - Now the area that we call busselton

03:07 - in northeast Philadelphia

03:09 - she's the youngest of six children

03:11 - of two widowers

03:14 - and we know that she he attended school.

03:17 - For at least several years at a private day school

03:21 - in busselton.

03:23 - Don't know whether she had further education I suspect that she did.

03:27 - Because her father and grandfather were both

03:30 - very well educated

03:32 - and also because of the activities we know she was involved with

03:35 - later in her life.

03:37 - Hmm.

03:46 - In nineteen ninety four in July during a violent thunderstorm.

03:52 - A

03:53 - Lightning struck the roof and apparently.

03:57 - A fire smoldered under the ease

04:00 - for several hours.

04:03 - Then burst into flames and caused a

04:06 - tremendously destructive fire.

04:08 - Which.

04:11 - Cause the congregation to

04:13 - wonder

04:15 - if we could

04:16 - rebuild.

04:19 - While they were fighting the fire.

04:21 - The.

04:23 - The windows were

04:26 - blown out by the fire hoses.

04:29 - In order to save our building

04:31 - and

04:31 - once

04:32 - the

04:33 - fire had

04:34 - stopped and

04:35 - the

04:36 - water had receded.

04:38 - We needed to.

04:40 - Collect the pieces of the stained glass.

04:43 - So that so it could be used in the reconstruction.

04:47 - Of the windows

04:49 - so congress

04:50 - congregants.

04:51 - Literally crawled around on their

04:53 - hands and knees

04:55 - picking up little shards of

04:57 - glass

04:58 - and putting them into.

05:01 - Buckets

05:02 - and that was

05:03 - later used by the stained glass construction company

05:06 - to put the stained glass windows back together again.

05:10 - Amazed saw windows

05:12 - are on the

05:13 - twenty second or east

05:15 - east side.

05:17 - Of the sanctuary of the church.

05:21 - The decision was made yes we

05:23 - can rebuild

05:24 - and we did and.

05:27 - When we did rebuild.

05:29 - Decisions were made.

05:31 - Like creating a modular open space.

05:35 - That has really led to

05:38 - this church becoming.

05:40 - A center of the community.

05:44 - We.

05:48 - Offer so many

05:50 - opportunities for

05:52 - community gatherings.

05:54 - We for example

05:55 - have.

05:57 - Regular potluck dinners

05:59 - that also feature open mic

06:01 - concerts.

06:03 - This is a polling place

06:05 - during elections.

06:07 - We have a knitting group that meets here

06:10 - we offer

06:11 - a

06:11 - Free

06:12 - fresh

06:13 - food

06:14 - pantry

06:16 - on Tuesday mornings here

06:18 - and we operate a

06:21 - homeless shelter.

06:23 - At the lower level of the church

06:26 - and we've done so for forty years

06:29 - and our

06:31 - members

06:32 - and other members of the community.

06:35 - Cook a hot dinner

06:37 - for our guests.

06:39 - In the shelter

06:41 - every night and

06:42 - we've done that for forty years

06:45 - so we're really proud of the

06:47 - many ways that we are able to serve the community.

07:11 - And.


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