St. Stephen's Memorial Church was built by the Honorable Enoch R. Mudge as a memorial to his son, Lt. Col. Charles Redington Mudge who died on July 3, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg.     Lt. Col. Mudge was in command of the 2nd Mass. Volunteer Regiment when on the morning of the 3rd, received orders to advance the regiment across Spangler's Meadow against a formidable position held by a vastly larger enemy force.

St. Stephen's Memorial Church

"Are you sure that is the order?" Lt. Col. Mudge asked the messenger."Yes Sir!" came the reply. With his famous words, "It is murder but is the order," Mudge gave the order, "Forward, double-quick." Advancing as quickly as the swampy ground would permit, Lt.Col. Mudge cheered on the men, who were devoted to him. In the middle of the field, waving his sword to encourage the regiment behind him, this gallant Harvard grad and young man from Lynn fell to the ground mortally wounded.

A grief stricken father, Enoch R. Mudge, purchased the land and built St. Stephen's Church at a cost of $250,000. Mudge Sr. hired the most famous of architects, artists and artisans of the day to build and decorate the church;  Louis Tiffany, Augustus St. Gaudens, Francis Millet, Daniel Harrington and Henry Dexter.

 The church community started across the street in 1844.           

Above is an architectural sketch that appeared for sale recently on eBay.     To find  photographs much nicer than the one I took please go to the church's web site:

http://www.ststephenslynn.org/churchnews/beautifulchurch.html

Thank you to David Migliacchio and Charlotte Brown-Breckenridge for contributing to this page!