Swedenborgian Church Lucas near Ewing Avenue First Society of the New Jerusalem / Swedenborgian
This Plate 71 entry is almost certainly the First Society of the New Jerusalem, the English-speaking Swedenborgian congregation listed at Lucas near Ewing from 1842–1877, before moving to 620 Spring Avenue in 1878–1892.
The church belonged to the Church of the New Jerusalem, the Swedenborgian tradition shaped by Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scientist, theologian, and mystic whose followers emphasized a spiritual reading of Scripture, moral regeneration, and the continuing unfolding of divine truth. St. Louis also had German Swedenborgian congregations, but the Lucas and Ewing church appears to have been the English-language First Society.
For Lucas and Garrison, its importance is less architectural than interpretive. In 1875, this small mission stood only steps from Stoddard School and near the developing residential corridor of Lucas, Washington, Ewing, and Garrison. It becomes another marker of how concentrated the neighborhood’s institutional life had become: schools, churches, physicians, industrialists, merchants, and civic leaders all occupied the same few blocks.
A concise profile title might be:
The Swedenborgian Church at Lucas and Ewing: A Small New Jerusalem in the Lucas and Garrison Neighborhood
Lucas and Garrison Reflective Addendum
The Swedenborgian Church at Lucas near Ewing represents one of the quieter religious presences on Plate 71. Unlike the larger and more visible churches nearby, it appears as a mission-sized congregation, but its placement is significant. It adds theological variety to the neighborhood and reminds us that 1875 St. Louis was not simply divided among the familiar Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish institutions. It also contained smaller spiritual movements that appealed to intellectually curious, reform-minded, and often socially engaged believers. For the LucGar project, the church deserves inclusion as part of the broader Churches and Clergy / Religious Landscape of Plate 71 rabbit trail rather than as a major stand-alone institutional profile.
Swedenborgian Church