{"nrhp_refnum":"72001114","name":"Peace Church","other_names":["Friedens Kierche"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NW corner of Trindle and St. John's Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Camp Hill","county":"Cumberland County","state":"PA","lat":40.231749483000044,"lon":-76.95665165599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-03-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Peace Church is a two-and-a-half story limestone church in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, with its cornerstone laid on 12 June 1798 and completed in the spring of 1799.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a typical example of Pennsylvania churches of the last decade of the eighteenth century and that it has remained completely unaltered. It also highlights its 1807 pipe organ, described as one of the oldest pipe organs still in use in any church in America, and its role as mother church for early Reformed and Lutheran congregations in the Harrisburg-West Shore area.","narrative":"Built of limestone in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, Peace Church had its cornerstone laid on 12 June 1798, and the building was completed in the spring of 1799. Thomas Anderson, a mason, and Martin Rupp, a carpenter, constructed it. The church served the early Reformed and Lutheran congregations of Cumberland County and was the mother church for all churches in the Harrisburg-West Shore area. Its interior keeps a wine glass pulpit with a sounding board, a secondary pulpit, straight-back pews, a brick floor in the pew area, and a balcony on three sides. The balcony holds a pipe organ built in 1807 by Conrad Doll of Lancaster, which is among the oldest pipe organs still in use in any American church. The church is regarded as a typical example of Pennsylvania churches of the late eighteenth century, and it is valued because it has remained completely unaltered since its construction.","period_of_significance":"1798-1799","architect_builder":"Thomas Anderson (mason); Martin Rupp (carpenter)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Unaltered, original site","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.698595-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/72001114.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001114/23257fdd86-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001114/23257fdd86-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jeremiah Orr","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peach_Church,_Mechanicsburg,_Pennsylvania.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeremiah Orr</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peach_Church,_Mechanicsburg,_Pennsylvania.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994891","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7157346"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/cumberland-county/peace-church-72001114/"}