A slice of Delaware's history
On August 30, 1703, 22 Kent County residents signed a petition to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, London, England, requesting the ministry of a priest. In the following year, the Reverend Thomas Crawford arrived, the first of nine S.P.G. missionaries.
When Dover was formally laid out by William Penn's surveyors in 1717, two religious squares were designated. Meeting House Square, now the site of the Delaware State Museum, was reserved for "Dissenters" (Presbyterians) and Church Square, east of Water Street, was reserved for the Church of England. The original Church Square was southwest of the present square, and was relocated to its present site in 1734.
The central portion of the present Christ Church building was begun on the new square that same year.
Christ Church is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites and is a participant in First State Heritage Park at Dover. A self-guided tour of the churchyard is available.
The bell tower was added in 1876, and a belll was purchased the following year. Below, a neogothic cross that adorned the sanctuary in the 1920s is now hanging in the Parish Hall.
The round window in the gallery depicts "Christ the King"
and was presented to the church in 1929
under the will of Willard Saulsbury (1820-1892).