AREA HISTORY:  Trinity Reformed Church, York County, PA

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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TRINITY REFORMED CHURCH – Page 587

This congregation was organized on the 4th of January, 1884, with a membership of 125.  Of this 
number, seventy-five were members of Emanuel’s Reformed Church, of Hanover, who joined the new 
organization.  The first elders elected were Dr. O. T. Everhart, Abraham Baker and Jonas 
Rebert; the first deacons were William Hoke and Jacob Siegfried.  The congregation unanimously 
called as their pastor, Rev. H. Hilbish, who, at the time, was pastor of several congregations 
surrounding Hanover.  His charge was reconstructed when he accepted the pastorship of Trinity 
Church, and still continued to preach for two other congregations, viz.:  Sherman’s and 
Bartholomew’s.  Trinity congregation worshipped for a time in the United Brethren Chapel, on 
Abbottstown Street.  A building committee, composed of Samuel Swartz, A. Baker and Charles 
Bowman, was appointed; a lot on York Street was purchased of Peter Flickinger, for $1,800.  The 
corner-stone of the church was laid on Whit-Monday, 1884.  The chapel was dedicated October 19, 
of the same year, by Rev. Cleaver, of Baltimore, and Rev. Dr. Santee, of Cavetown, Md.  The 
church, in August, 1885, is not quite completed, the chapel being still used as a place of 
worship.  The cost of church, when completed, will be $15,000.  The congregation, under the 
pastoral care of Rev. Hilbish, is rapidly increasing in its membership, and now numbers 235.  
The Sunday-school of 165 members is superintended by Dr. O. T. Everhart.