St. Michael’s Church of Trenton, New Jersey, organized in 1703, is the oldest parish of the Episcopal Church in this area, and one of the oldest in New Jersey. The church building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The people who formed the original congregation were English immigrants. It has been said that probably no church in New Jersey has a more interesting history, or more closely allies itself with the life of people in troubled times.

During the Revolutionary War, services at St. Michael’s Church were suspended because of the mixture of loyalist and revolutionary sentiment in the congregation. The vestry passed a resolution on Sunday, July 7, 1776, to close the church for an indefinite period. This happened the day before the Declaration of Independence was publicly read from the steps of the Trenton Court House.

Both the Continental and British armies occupied the church at intervals. During the Hessian occupation of Trenton, the building was used as a barracks and artillery pieces were stationed in the churchyard. When the Continental Army and George Washington surprised the Hessians on December 26, 1776, much of the fighting of the first battle of Trenton focused on St. Michael’s Churchyard. Later in the war, the church was used by the Continental Army as a hospital.

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