St. Paul’s Parish observed its 300th anniversary in 1992, celebrating its official establishment as a parish by the Vestry Act of 1692. The original parish church was known as “Chester Church” and is believed to have been built sometime between 1640 and 1660 outside the present town of Centreville. The parish originally covered most of present day Queen Anne’s County, all of Caroline County, and part of Talbot County. Wye Parish, St. Luke’s Parish in Church Hill, and St. Paul’s in Hillsborough were once chapels of St. Paul’s.

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The second church building on the same site began construction in 1697 and the vestry built a much larger church a third time after the Revolutionary War patterned after St. Paul’s in Philadelphia. In 1794 the town of Centreville was established, leaving the church across the river from its parishioners.

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In 1834, some of the ancient bricks of the old Chester Church were removed and placed in the new building erected on the present site in Centreville. The church was extended in 1855 and again in 1892 to reflect the shape of the cross and stands today as the fourth building to serve the congregation of St. Paul’s Parish.

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Adapted from Queen Anne Goes to the Kitchen

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