The St. Thomas Reformed Church will be celebrating 350 years this 2010. In St. Thomas, there will be activities, concerts, services and visiting artist performances.
St. Thomas Reformed Church was established in 1660 by the first organized group of European settlers to the island. It’is one of the oldest congregations in the Caribbean. Part of the Reformed Church in America, founded by Dutch settlers in Manhattan in 1628, the church is the oldest denomination in America.
It was first named St. Thomas Protestant Reformed Dutch Church, the first services took place in Fort Christian, the site of which is now a museum and historical site in Charlotte Amalie. This church, which was built in the mid-1670s, was in use until 1731. The church’s subsequent two buildings on Snegle Gade were both destroyed by fire.
The church’s current location, constructed between 1844 and 1848, is at the corner of Crystal and Nye Gades. Though the church was destroyed by Hurricane Marilyn in 1995, the work of hundreds of volunteers restored it to its original state.