St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church

St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church
St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church
Basic information
Location	405 King Street, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A.
Geographic coordinates	32°47′12″N 79°56′14″W / 32.7868°N 79.9372°W / 32.7868; -79.9372Coordinates: 32°47′12″N 79°56′14″W / 32.7868°N 79.9372°W / 32.7868; -79.9372
Affiliation	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
District	South Carolina Synod
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Congregation
Leadership	The Rev. Eric Childers, Senior Pastor Dr. Robert Hawkins, Interim Organist and Director of Music Lisa Pearce, Interim Director, Community Center
Website	St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Architectural description
Architect(s)	John Henry Devereux
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
Completed	1872
Specifications
Direction of façade	North East
Capacity	765+
Length	157 ft (48 m)
Width	64 ft (20 m)
Width (nave)	56 ft (17 m)
Spire(s)	1
Spire height	255 ft (78 m)
Materials	cement render over brick

The Rev. Eric Childers, Senior Pastor

Dr. Robert Hawkins, Interim Organist and Director of Music

Lisa Pearce, Interim Director, Community Center

The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Charleston, South Carolina, was incorporated on December 3, 1840. Through usage and custom the Church is now known as St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church or St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and is a member of the South Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The church was founded by Johann Andreas Wagener and 49 other German-speaking citizens wishing to worship in their native language in the port city of Charleston, South Carolina. Wagener's first intent was to form a German language, "ecumenical, cosmopolitan" congregation for all faiths: Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic. However, when the ecumenical plan failed, it was decided to organize the congregation as an Evangelical Lutheran Church. Wagener was elected the congregation's first president. He establish the town of Walhalla, South Carolina in 1849 as a colony for German immigrants. Later he became a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army and served as the Commandant of Charleston until the evacuation of the city in February 1865. In 1866, he represented the Charleston district in the South Carolina House of Representatives, and in 1871 Wagener was elected mayor of Charleston.

The congregation's first purchase was a cemetery for the burial of German-speaking citizens during a yellow fever outbreak in 1841. Known as Hampstedt or God's Acre Cemetery, the ground on Reid Street held 1,048 graves by the mid-1850s. During the first year of the congregation's organization, worship services were held in the Lecture Room of the Second Presbyterian Church at 63-65 Society Street, the German Fire Company at 6 Chalmers Street, and the Lecture Room at St. John's Lutheran Church (English) on Clifford St. (formerly known as Dutch Church Alley). Interestingly, the Presbyterian Lecture Room was later purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston in 1861 to form St. Paul's German Catholic Church. The Lutheran congregation's first church building was a classical Greek Revival structure on the northwest corner of Hasell and Anson Streets. The architect was Edward Brickell White, and it was dedicated on June 22, 1842. The cost for the land and construction by John Dawson was $11,000.