America’s strong religious heritage can be seen in the 1800s when, for many decades, church services were held in the US Capitol building. The Marine Corps Band even played at some of these meetings!

From 1793 through 1800, the Capitol building in Washington, DC was under construction. Congress was finally able to relocate at the end of 1800 and approved the Capitol’s use as a church. This was not a new use for this building as a local newspaper noted in 1795 that “public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning.”

The Marine Corps Band was established in 1798 during John Adams’ administration while the nation’s capital was in Philadelphia. Their first concert occurred near the future site of the Lincoln Memorial 221 years ago: August 21, 1800.

Thomas Jefferson “constantly attended public worship in the Hall [the Capitol]” while serving as President. (The congregation even reserved a seat for him to attend the services!)

Future Presidents (such as James Madison and John Quincy Adams), members of Congress, and the general public continued to attend the Capitol church for many decades.

Some of these services were so crowded, attendees spoke about the difficulty of finding seats. For example, John Quincy Adams noted in 1841:

I rode with my wife…to the Capitol, where the Hall of the House of Representatives was so excessively crowded that it was with extreme difficulty that we were enabled to obtain seats.

The Marine Corps Band provided instrumental accompaniment for some Capitol church services. An eyewitness noted they “made quite a dazzling appearance in the gallery. The marches they played were good and inspiring.” But the Marine Corps Band’s participation did not last as they were unable to effectively “accompany the psalm-singing of the congregation.”

The US Capitol building’s church services provide an amazing, though little-known, example of America’s deeply religious heritage; but it is definitely worth studying! You can read more about this incredible history at WallBuilders.