St. Paul's Church is an Episcopal church founded in 1702 in Chester, Pennsylvania. The church is a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. It is located at 301 East 9th Street and is an active worship center. History England, The Netherlands and Sweden each claimed the territory flanking the Delaware River. Swedish colonists established a permanent settlement at Upland, New Sweden (now Chester, Pennsylvania), by 1644. Dutch soldiers, under the command of Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, arrived in a squadron of ships in 1655, and seized the Swedish colony. It was renamed New Netherlands, although Swedish and Finnish settlers were allowed to remain. The English seized New Netherlands in 1664, at the beginning of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch formally ceded the colony to England a decade later, in the 1674 Treaty of Westminster. The Swedes had set aside a plot of land on the south side of 3rd Street, east of Market Street, as a burial ground. It is believed that they never erected a church building, but held religious services in a nearby blockhouse. Old St. Paul's Church In 1700, Reverend Evan Evans was sent to the province of Pennsylvania by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He is frequently mentioned in the society records as traveling to Chester, Chichester, Concord and Radnor. St. Paul's Church was erected on site of the Swedish burial ground in 1702–1703. The original church was built of brick – in length, in width, and in height – with a wooden steeple containing the bell. The former Quaker Anglican missionary George Keith is known to have preached at St. Paul's twice in 1702. The St. Paul's Church parish included St. Martin's Church in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania and St. John's Church in Concord. In 1704, Reverend Henry Nichols was sent by The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts as a missionary to work in all three churches. In 1707, Reverend Evan Evans, travelled to England and returned the same year with a pewter Holy Communion Service, a gift from Queen Anne to the parish. Inscribed on these are the words "Anna Regina, in usum Eccelesiae Anglicanae apud Philadelphiani, A.D., 1708." The communion service was displayed at the east end of the church. Missionaries were sent from Philadelphia to preach to the congregation, however problems arose due to the distance the preachers had to travel