St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

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Historical Significance

Originally located on Perry Street, St. Stephens Episcopal Church was organized in 1868 with a black vestry and a black rector, Reverend J. S. Atwell. It was an outgrowth of Major Giles B. Cooke's Sunday School for Blacks in St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 1867. A church member, George F. Bragg, Jr., published the city's first black secular newspaper, The Lancet, in the 1880's. He later entered the Episcopal ministry. Cooke, who was rector of St. Stephen's, founded the Bishop Payne Divinity School (1884-1949), Virginia's first Episcopal seminary for blacks.

Physical Description

No Physical Description Available

Geographical and Contact Information

228 Halifax Street
Petersburg, Virginia
23803
Phone: 804-733-6228