Boehm's Reformed Church (Blue Bell, PA)

Boehm's Reformed Church was established as a congregation in 1740 by John Philip Boehm. Boehm was born in Hochstadt, Germany in 1683, the son of a Reformed minister. On November 23, 1729 he was ordained in New York by the Dutch Reformed Church. A year later he settled on land in Whitpain Township, where the Whitpain Congregation was formed in 1740, meeting in Boehm's farmhouse and other nearby homes. In 1747 the first Boehm's Church was constructed of stone on land near Boehm's farm and the present village of Blue Bell. Boehm died in 1749 and was buried underneath the altar in his church. The first stone church building served as a hospital for sick and wounded American soldiers during the Battle of Germantown in 1777. In 1876, remains of several Revolutionar War soldiers were discovered during the grading of walkways in the cemetery. They were later re-interred in a common grave, marked by a stone monument provided by the Valley Forge Chapter of the DAR. In 1818, an enlarged church building was constructed and a further renovation in 1871.