First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

The First German Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation of Pittsburgh was organized on January 22, 1837. Led by The Reverend "Father" Heyr, the first Divine Services were held in a Unitarian meeting house on Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh. From 1838 to 1839 the congregation worshiped in a school house and the the old courthouse. Three different downtown churches served the congregation from 1840 to 1925. The church built in 1840 at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Grant Street was the first Evangelical-Lutheran church building erected in Pittsburgh. The second building at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Wylie Avenue, built in 1848, was undermined by a railroad tunnel. The third downtown building, Trinity Church, located on Sixth Avenue between Wylie and Fifth Avenues, was sold in 1925. This building had a seating capacity of 1,600 and was distinguished by a 180 foot steeple. With the decommissioning and sale of the third downtown church building, the congregation moved to the Oakland section of the City of Pittsburgh. Construction of the present Trinity Church began in 1926 with completion and dedication in 1927. The church was designed in the fifteenth century Gothic style by Corbusier and Lenski, famed architects from Cleveland. The builder was Edward Wehr of Pittsburgh. Total cost of the new building was approximately $400,000. First Trinity is constructed of Bedford, Indiana limestone, suggesting the classical medieval cathedrals of Europe. The congregation changed its name to First Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church in 1930 as the German language gave way to English among the members.