Joseph Gardiner Reynolds (1886 - 1972) is the primary stained-glass artist of First Reformed Church in Lancaster. From the 1920s to the 1960s he created nine memorial windows for this downtown church. In the 1920s he also created eight windows for Lancaster’s Reformed Seminary. During that same time he designed eight windows for the Reformed Church’s Mercersburg Academy in Franklin County.
Reynolds was one of the most celebrated American designers of windows in the Gothic Revival style. He was a co-founder of the Boston stained-glass company Reynolds, Francis, and Rohnstock. Reynolds was the designer and director of the firm. William M. Francis was the glass painter, and J. Henry Rohnstock was the glazier. Their projects include Princeton University, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, and the National Cathedral in Washington D. C.
Today the Smithsonian Institute permanently preserves Joseph Reynold’s archive of correspondence, drawings, and photographs.

 1922: Joseph Reynold’s Stained-Glass Articles
In the Journal American Architect:

  Above: Joseph Reynolds creates a full-size drawing of his window for the Helen Hughes Chapel, New York. He holds his preliminary watercolor painting of the window.
It was 1922. Joseph Reynolds has recently formed his stained-glass company in Boston, in partnership with William Francis and J. Henry Rohnstock. Reynolds was the company’s director, designer, and spokesman. All three men previously worked in the Boston glass studio of Charles J. Connick. That same year Reynolds published a series of articles about stained-glass history in a prestigious journal of architecture, The American Architect and the Architectural Review. This publication provided a powerful boost for Reynold’s career.

1923:  Joseph Reynold’s First Window at First Reformed:

  Joseph Reynolds used imported English glass for his first window at First Reformed Church. The window was a gift of Alice (Shultz) Raub and her family, as a memorial to her husband Harry Lyman Raub, Sr. He was a co-founder of Raub Supply Co.
This was the church’s first window that had a Gothic Revival style. Reynolds eventually followed this window with eight more sanctuary windows in his signature medieval style.

1924: Joseph Reynold’s Lecture at First Reformed Church

Joseph Reynolds was an eloquent spokeman for his craft. He travelled throughout the East Coast to present slide-illustrated lectures about the history of stained glass. His research of medieval glass took him to Europe where he studied the workmanship of historic cathedrals. Reynolds became an ardent evangelist for Gothic Revival handcrafted design.

1925: Joseph Reynold’s Lecture at the Iris Club
While he Installed Eight Windows at the Reformed Seminary: 

  In 1925 Joseph Reynolds created eight windows for Lancaster’s Reformed Seminary. The pastor of First Reformed Church, Rev. W. Stuart Cramer, helped lead the committee that directed Reynold’s design and installation of those new seminary windows.
Rev. Cramer also was a leading advocate for creating new memorial windows for his own church, First Reformed. He pastored the church from 1905 to 1930. During that time he created long-range plans for a series of windows in the church to illustrate the history of Christianity. Today many of the the windows in the the church are based on Rev. Cramer’s plans.

1928: Joseph Reynold’s Preliminary Painting
For his St. Augustine Window at First Reformed Church:

  Joseph Reynolds was a master draftsman with a pencil and watercolor. He had learned his way with watcolors at the Rhode Island School of Design where he graduated in 1907. For each of his windows he first created a watercolor painting to show to the building’s architect or to the window’s donor.
His watercolors opened doors to prestigious commissions in some of the most architecturally spectacular churches of the 20th century.
Today Joseph Reynold’s watercolors, papers, and correspondence are archived at the Smithsonian Institute, the Corning Museum of Glass, and elsewhere.

Above: In 1941 Joseph Reynolds presented this Madonna watercolor for design approval to the children of Susan Herr Bausman Frantz. She had passed away a few years earlier, in 1936. This family wanted to donate a Madonna window to First Reformed Church in the memory of their mother.
The reverse side of the watercolor includes an approval note from a Frantz son: “August 21, 1941, the within design is approved, subject to the changes as outlined in my letter of even date. J. Andrew Frantz.”
During this same time, Reynolds created a second similar widow for the Bausman / Frantz family. This window (below) depicts a young St. John who gazes toward the Madonna.

Above: Window in memory of Caroline S. Keiper. Image: Corning Museum of Glass

  In the 1920s and 1930s Caroline (Schoen) Keiper and her husband Lanious Brinser Keiper provided funds for four windows at First Reformed. Joseph Reynolds designed the windows. Two windows installed in 1929 depict St. Athanasius and St. Augustine. In 1939 Mrs. Keiper’s will provided funds for two more windows portraying St. Francis of Assisi and John Hus.
Lanious Keiper co-founded the Champion Blower and Forge Company in Lancaster, which produced metal-working equipment. The company was one of Lancaster’s largest and most successful industrial firms.
Today the four Keiper windows stand side-by-side in perpetuity. They fill the sanctuary’s western wall above the balcony pews, where they add color to the afternoon sun.

1937: Caroline Keiper
Also Donated the Keiper Liberal Arts Building
to F&M College:

 1938: Joseph and Bertha Reynolds Visited Lancaster
On a Stained-Glass Business Trip,
Guests of Judge T. Roberts Appel and Eva Appel:

Joseph Reynolds visited Lancaster numerous times while creating the stained-glass windows for First Reformed Church and for the Reformed Seminary. His wife Bertha accompanied him here during a visit in October, 1938. The Reynolds were hosted by Judge T. Roberts Appel and wife Eva (Rengier) Appel. The Appels lived at 48 North President Ave., Lancaster.
Judge Appel was with the Lancaster County Orphans’ Court. He also served as a member of the Consistory of the First Reformed Church for 29 years.
Eva Rengier Appel was treasurer of the Lancaster Township School Board. She also was on the board of the Home for Friendless Children and of the YWCA. She served on the board of the Iris Club for 25 years.
Two members of this Appel / Apple family had been presidents of F&M College while the school was associated with the Reformed Church: Thomas Gilmore Apple (President 1877 to 1889) and his son Henry Harbaugh Apple (President 1909 to 1935).

1950:  Joseph Reynolds Received the Craftsman Medal
From the American Institute of Architects:

1950 was a good year for Joseph Reynolds. He visited Washington D. C. that year to receive the Craftsman Medal from the American Institute of Architects during their 82nd convention. Photographer Edward Steichen received the institution’s Fine Arts Medal during that meeting.

 1968: Joseph Reynolds Created his Final Window for First Reformed
When he was 81 Years Old:

Joseph Reynold’s final window for First Reformed Church was this John Calvin window which he created in 1968. He was in his early 80s by this time. The previous year, 1967, he had closed his Boston studio and began working with the glass shop of Wilbur H. Burnham.
Reynolds chose to portray John Calvin as a white-haired patriarch, advanced in years. Perhaps Reynolds saw himself reflected in this glass, like a portrait of John Calvin and himself both.
Reynolds had created nine windows for this church, over a 45-year span. His understated signature on this window is often unseen. But his name is not forgotten.

The National Cathedral in Washington D. C. includes a spectacular collection of windows by Joseph Reynolds. He created more than 20 windows there throughout several decades. Some of his windows were in partnership with Wilbur Burnham, who created First Reformed Church’s Martin Luther window.
The cathedral includes more than 230 windows by numerous glass studios. The two glassmakers who designed the most windows were Rowan LeCompte of Waterford, Virginia, and Joseph Reynolds of Boston. Reynold’s work includes a magnificent rose window and central apse windows. He also wrote numerous articles about stained glass for the cathedral’s journal Cathedral Age and presented lectures in the church about his craft.

  Return to this website’s index page about First Reformed UCC Church: Index page / Home