St. Paul Church once thrived for African American community

In 1882, Charles Dunning Sr. and Charles Steward Sr. met with a group of inspired Christians and together they conceived the idea of establishing a Methodist church in Lewes. As a result of their leadership and an equally inspired group of followers, George Stockley, Wallace Wright, Benjamin Stokley, Peter Wright, George Wright, James Burton, Mr. and Mrs. Parish Wolfe, Henry Little, Diane Burton, Susan Steward, Harriet Dunning, Ellen Miller, Margaret Maull, Cesar Wolfe, Josephine White and Elizabeth Burton, the St. Paul Methodist Church came into existence. After hauling logs from the forest and trimming them to their exact proportion, the church structure was erected. The first pastor was the Rev. J.E.A.D. Grigsby. 

The church was a mainstay in the robust Lewes African American community for many years. But as the demographics of Lewes changed, the African American community shrunk dramatically in the 1990s, and so did the church’s congregation. In 2005, the church was put on limited charge and used mainly for leased events, finally being put up for sale in 2011.  The building was bought and renovated as a private home by Diane Stollenwerk and Maggie McIntosh in 2014, but the church’s impact on the many Black families that worshiped, were christened, got married, were memorialized and gathered at St. Paul is not forgotten.

One of the St. Paul pastors, the Rev. Frank Robinson, who started in 1966, was the brother of College and Pro Football Hall of Famer David Robinson, who attended Penn State and played for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.