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Christ ChurchGeorgetown
Hand-coloured 1855 lithograph of Georgetown seen across the Potomac, with sailing ships on the river and church spires above brick houses

Our History

Two centuries at 31st and O Streets, and the much older tradition of prayer we belong to.

  • 1817Christ Church organised, 10 November
  • 1887The present church consecrated, 2 June
  • 22rectors, from Reuel Keith to Timothy Cole

Christ Church has worshipped at the corner of 31st and O Streets for more than two hundred years. Our history pages tell two connected stories. One is the history of this parish: its founders, its buildings, its windows and its rectors. The other is the history of the tradition it belongs to, from the English Reformation and the Book of Common Prayer to the first American bishops and the Anglican "middle way".

The pages are written for parishioners, newcomers and visitors. Each one lists its sources. Where the sources disagree, or a story rests only on parish tradition, we say so. The parish history is a draft for the parish to review; corrections and additions are welcome through the parish office.

1865 photograph of the Georgetown waterfront seen across the Potomac, with sailing ships moored along the wharves
The Georgetown waterfront in 1865, photographed from Mason's (Analostan) Island by William Morris Smith. Library of Congress. Public domain.
Historic black-and-white photograph of clergy and a long line of choirboys and men in cassocks and surplices outside the church doors
Clergy and choir outside Christ Church, from the parish's archive (date not recorded). Photo: Christ Church, Georgetown.

Start here

Read the pages in order, as one story, or go straight to the part that interests you. The timeline puts both stories side by side. For the parish's 200th anniversary celebrations, see the Bicentennial.

Image credits

  • View of Georgetown, D.C., lithograph by E. Sachse & Co., 1855 (top of page): Library of Congress, public domain.
  • Georgetown waterfront, 1865, William Morris Smith: Library of Congress, public domain.
  • Clergy and choir outside the church: Christ Church, Georgetown, parish archive.

In this section

Christ Church, 1817 to todayA history of Christ Church, Georgetown: its founding in 1817, Francis Scott Key, the first church of 1818, the present Gothic Revival church of 1885–87, its Munich windows, its rectors and its place in Georgetown. The Anglican traditionFrom Henry VIII to the 1662 Prayer Book: how the English Reformation shaped the Church of England, the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles, the roots of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal ChurchHow the colonial Church of England survived the American Revolution: Samuel Seabury, William White and the first American bishops, the 1789 Prayer Book, and the Episcopal Church today. The via mediaWhat Anglicans mean by the via media or middle way: Richard Hooker, Scripture, tradition and reason, the Caroline divines, the Oxford Movement and the evangelicals, the Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral, and lex orandi, lex credendi. TimelineA timeline of the Anglican and Episcopal tradition and of Christ Church, Georgetown, from Augustine of Canterbury in 597 to the parish's bicentennial and the reopening of Linthicum Hall. Further readingRecommended books and free primary texts on the history of Christ Church, Georgetown, the English Reformation, the Book of Common Prayer, Richard Hooker and the Episcopal Church.