Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church

Gloria Dei, or Old Swedes’ Church, in Philadelphia’s Southwark neighborhood grew from a Swedish congregation founded on Tinicum Island in 1646, moved to Wicaco in 1677, and completed its present church in 1700. The oldest church in Pennsylvania and the second-oldest Swedish church in the United States, it stands with an early burial ground closely tied to the area’s first European settlement. Built in an English vernacular form with Medieval and Gothic elements, it was later reinforced and altered over time. The church hosted the first regular Lutheran ordination in the Americas in 1703 and remains active, reflecting centuries of Swedish-American and Episcopal history.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States