After that clergyman's death the vestry were com-
pelled to sell the lot, but in 1852, during the pastorate
of the Rev. Francis J. Clerc, they purchased the
property at Sixth and Spruce Streets and erected a
small church, as previously stated. Over the chancel
a mural tablet was placed in memory of Mr. Griswold.
The erection of the present edifice was begun in
1870, and the corner-stone was laid by the Right
Rev. C. F. Robertson, bishop of the diocese, on the
1st of August, 1871. The new church, situated at
the northeast corner of Hickory and Dolman Streets,
was completed in 1872, after designs by F. W. Reader.
The building is of brick, and is one of the most beau-
tiful churches in the city. Besides the main struc-
ture, it has Sunday-school- and lecture-rooms, rector's
study, library, etc. Its rectors have been the Revs.
Whiting Griswold, 1841-49 ; Francis J. Clerc, 1849-
57 ; William R. Johnson, 1858 ; John Coleman, D.D.,
1859-61; William G. Spencer, 1861-68; J. P. T.
Ingraham, D.D., 1868-79 ; and the present pastor,
Rev. Joseph T. Wright, since 1880. The communi-
cants reported for 1882 number two hundred and
thirty-seven, and the Sunday-school had nine teachers
and an average attendance of one hundred scholars.
Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, Eleventh
and Warren Streets, Rev. J. P. T. Ingraham, rector,
I was organized in May, 1844. Its site was a lot of
i ground in the Chambers tract, North St. Louis. This
property was orignally owned by Col. William Cham-
bers, of Kentucky, an officer of the United States
army stationed in St. Louis, who purchased it in
1816. Several years later Col. Chambers sold one-
third of the tract to Maj. Thomas Wright, and an-
other third to William Christy, father-in-law of Maj.
Wright. Soon after the admission of Missouri as a
State, Messrs. Chambers, Wright, and Christy united
in a plan for the establishment of a town upon their
property. A plat of the proposed town was made,
and four parcels of land were dedicated to the general
use of the city. One of these, designated as " Circle
No. 3," was set apart " for the purpose of erecting a
! house of worship and a burying-ground, to be opened
for the interment of all denominations of religious
persons." The street around this circle was named
Church Street, but was afterwards known as Marion
Alley. The circle afterwards became the site of
Grace Church and graveyard. It was about three
hundred feet in diameter, and contained nearly one
and three-quarter acres in area. Subsequently the
heirs and assigns of the proprietors disputed the title
of Grace Church to the cemetery lot, and litigation
followed. Bishop Hawks, in an address to the Dio-
cesan Convention in 1860, gave the following account
of the organization of Grace Church :
" Acting by the advice of my friend, that learned member of
the bar, Mr. Josiah Spalding, then senior warden of Christ
Church, of which I was rector, and with the hearty co-operation
of the Rev. P. R. Minard, then rector of St. Paul's Church, St.
Louis, and Mr. Calvin Case, a zealous layman in North St.
Louis, all of whom are now deceased, I caused a subscription to
be raised in North St. Louis, to which two-thirds of the inhab-
itants subscribed, to build an Episcopal Church upon that
ground. Having obtained this, I filed the record and inclosed
the ground. Grace Church was then organized, and soon a
small church building was erected. Messrs. Cressy, AVeller,
and Woodward were- the successive pastors in this weak enter-
prise. At length the Rev. Mr. Clerc became the rector, and
under him the old edifice was beautifully enlarged, and, thus
enlarged, it was my comfort to consecrate it. The property, in
the day when it was given, was considered of little value, but
with the growth of our city has become very valuable. It is
not far, too, from our Orphans' Home, and, from its position
alone, has become almost the chapel and the guardian, as
spiritual things, of that institution."
The charter of Grace Church recites that, whereas
Circle No. 3, "just west of Sixth Street," had been
set apart for the erection of a house of worship thereon,
and the inhabitants of North St. Louis had organized
1724
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
an association for worship according to the forms and
discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church, there-
fore " the undersigned, proprietors and representatives"
of the original proprietors, agreed, in consideration of
the premises and of one dollar paid to them by Martha
T. Christy, of North St. Louis, to relinquish and con-
vey to her all their right and title to the property in
question. This instrument was executed on the 31st
of May, 1844, and was signed by M. T. Christy,
Mary A. Wright, M. N. Taylor, and M. F. Christy.
A supplementary agreement was entered into to the
effect that, inasmuch as the property for the church
edifice had been secured and a vestry organized, the
subscribers would pay to Calvin Case, treasurer of
the vestry, the sums set opposite their names. The
signatures of one hundred and ten persons were sub-
scribed to this document, attached to which was the
acknowledgment of Archibald Carr, justice of the
peace, that Calvin Case had sworn that the list of sub-
scribers comprised two-thirds of the heads of families
residing in North St. Louis on the 9th of April, 1845.
The Mrs. Martha T. Christy mentioned in the charter
as trustee for the property was the widow of William
Christy, and the most active of the persons engaged
in the work of organizing the church and establish-
ing the cemetery. Among the members of the first
vestry and most of the successive vestries were
Dr. Alfred Heacock, Dwight Durkee, Hon. Isaac
H. Sturgeon, Thomas L. Sturgeon, Daniel A. Rollins,
Benjamin O'Fallon, Joseph Branch, and John Hal-
sell. Henry Overstolz, afterwards mayor of the city,
was a vestryman of this church in 1850, and Hon.
Erastus Wells was a member of the vestry in 1854.
The cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Hawks, and
the erection of the church edifice was begun in 1846.
The building was not completed until 1851, but ser-
vices were held in it without intermission after its
construction had been sufficiently far advanced to per-
mit of its use. It was a wooden structure, in the
form of a cross, and with a steeple, and stood on ele-
vated ground, the entrance being reached by a long
flight of steps. In I860 the building was enlarged,
and on the 15th of April of that year was conse-
crated by Bishop Hawks, assisted by Rev. Dr. Schuy-
ler, of Christ Church, Rev. Dr. Coleman, of St.
John's, Rev. Mr. Terry, of St. Paul's, Rev. Mr.
Berkley, of St. George's, Rev. Mr. Clark, of Calvary,
and Rev. Mr. Clerc, rector of the parish. The con-
secration sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Cole-
man. In 1881 the ground, which was twenty feet
above the grade of the street, was cut away, and the
church, which had faced the east, was let down and
turned so as to face the south, and was greatly im-
proved. It will now seat seven hundred persons. The
parsonage, which stood a few steps from the church,
was erected during the pastorate of the Rev. Mr.
Woodward. The renovated church was reconsecrated
Sunday, May 28, 1882. As it had once been for-
mally consecrated by the bishop, it was deemed un-
necessary to repeat the ceremonies in full, and a con-
secration prayer merely was therefore offered. The
services were conducted by the pastor, Rev. Dr.
Ingraham, and his assistant, the Rev. Mr. Phelps.
Dr. Ingraham preached the consecration sermon, in
the course of which he stated that the amount re-
quired to defray the cost of the alterations, payment
of the old debt, etc., was ten thousand five hundred
dollars. Of this sum five thousand dollars had been
given and pledged by Joseph W. Branch, and over
five thousand dollars more by the parishioners, leav-
ing an indebtedness still remaining of one thousand
three hundred and thirty dollars.
The rectors of St. John's have been the Revs. E.
H. Cressy, 1845-48; R. H. Weller, 1850-51; W.
H. Woodward, 1851-58 ; Francis J. Clerc, 1858-60 ;
Bishop C. S. Hawks, D.D., 1863-67; William L.
Githens, 1868-73; William N. Webbe, 1873-74;
William L. Githens, 1874-77 ; Abiel Leonard, 1877
-78 ; J. Gierlow, Ph. D., 1878-81 ; J. P. T. Ingraham,
1881. Dr. Ingraham is still the rector. Rev. Philip
McKim and Benjamin O'Fallon were respectively as-
sistant rector and lay reader of the church in its early
days. According to the report of the rector for 1882,
there were ninety communicants and sixteen teachers
and one hundred and sixty children in the Sunday-
school.
St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church, is
situated at the northwest corner of Beaumont and
Chestnut Streets, Rev. John Fulton, D.D., rector.
The organization of this parish grew out of the loss
of Kernper College, which was sold for debt in 1845,
while Rev. E. Carter Hutchinson was its president.
Some time before Bishop Hawks was invited to be-
come rector of Christ Church, Mr. Hutchinson had
received a call from the vestry, but had declined it,
his friends wishing him to remain at the head of the
college. When the college was sold, many who were
attached to him, in order to retain him in the diocese,
proposed to organize a parish of which he should be
the rector, and under date of March 22, 1845, ad-
dressed to Bishop Hawks the following petition :
" The undersigned, being anxious to advance the interests of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in this growing city, beg leave
to state that the medical faculty of the St. Louis University have
generously offered the use of their hall, on Washington Avenue,
between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, as a house of religious wor-
ship, during the spring, summer, and autumn months. As there
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1725
is a rapidly increasing population in that neighborhood, we
deem it important that a speedy effort should be made to pre-
sent the claims of the church there. We understand there is a
canon of the church forbidding a clergyman to officiate within
the limits of a city where there are regularly organized churches
without the consent of the settled rector or rectors. We do,
therefore, most respectfully and earnestly solicit your permis-
sion and co-operation in the furtherance of our wishes. We
have understood that the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, late president
of Kemper College, will probably spend some months in this
vicinity for the purpose of arranging some matters of business, '
and although he has not been advised with by us on the sub-
ject, we are not without hope that his services may be procured
in aid of this important object." Signed, James Hutton,
Robert Ranken, James Gresham, Robert C. Greer, David H.
Armstrong, Frederic L. Billon, Isaiah Forbes, W. Carr Lane, II . j
S. Geyer, B. H. Randolph, Edward Tracy, Thomas Shore, Samuel
B. Churchill, H. W. Chambers, Thomas T. Russell, Charles j
Pettit, Z. B. Curtis, T. S. Rutherford, P. H. McBride, Edward j
E. Archer, B. H. Batte, Henry C. Hart, David M. Hill, Henry !
B. Belt, Josiah Spalding, Britton A. Hill, M. S. Gray, J. O'Fal-
lon, W. H. Pritchartt, Henry Von Phul, G. Erskine, Edward
Mead, William Glasgow, R. Wash, Win. Smith, H. S. Case,
Thomas Skinker, Edward Stagg, J. S. B. Alleyne, Julius Mo- !
rise, Edward Charless, John D. Daggett, Dr. John Shore, F.
W. Southack.
The necessary consent having been obtained, a
meeting was held in the hall of the St. Louis Lyceum,
Gen. William Milburn presiding, and a new parish
organized, with the Rev. E. C. Hutchinson as rector,
and John O'Fallon, Henry S. Geyer, William Milburn,
Thomas Shore, James Henry, Josephus W. Hall, and
Josiah Dent as vestrymen. The name of St. George j
was given to the church by the rector, after a church
of the same name in New York, in charge of Dr.
Milnor, a leader of the Evangelical school, the doc- ]
trines of which were indorsed by Mr. Hutchinson. j
On May 13, 1846, the church was admitted into the
Diocesan Convention, and reported fifty-five commu-
nicants. For nearly two years the services were held
in the morning at the public school-house on Sixth
Street, and in the afternoon at the Methodist Church
on Fifth Street. The first church building erected
by the parish stood on Locust Street near Seventh,
and was dedicated April 13, 1847. In 1851, Rev.
S. G. Gassaway, of Georgetown, D. C., was chosen
assistant rector. Questions which had arisen as to
the administration, and afterwards as to the loss of
Kemper College, of which Mr. Hutchinson was one
of the creditors, caused much feeling and division,
and although St. George's Church was built expressly
for its first rector, and many of his friends thought
that he should have remained and outlived the oppo-
sition which had begun to be manifested, after an
assistant minister had been called Mr. Hutchinson
resigned, in 1852, and three years later organized
Trinity Church. Mr. Gassaway then became rector. |
He was one of the victims of the explosion of the I
St. Louis and Alton packet, just after it had left the
St. Louis wharf, Feb. 16, 1854. His many virtues
and zealous devotion to his parish had greatly en-
deared him to his parishioners, who presented his
family with five thousand dollars, and erected to his
memory a marble tablet, which was placed in the
church, and subsequently removed to the walls of the
new building and placed near the font.
The rectors of the church since then have been
Rev. William Colvin Brown, deacon, ordained priest
Dec. 10, 1854; Rev. T. A. Hopkins, son of Bishop
Hopkins, of Vermont, called July 8, 1855, resigned
in the fall of 1857 ; Rev. Edward F. Berkley, D.D., of
Lexington, Ky., 1 took charge Nov. 20, 1858, resigned
Dec. 5, 1871 ; Rev. Robert A. Holland, of Baltimore,
called Jan. 1, 1872, resigned Nov. 1, 1879, to take
charge of Trinity Church. Chicago ; Rev. S. W.
Young, of Canada, had temporary oversight of the
parish until the present rector entered upon his duties
(April 4, 1880). After the death of Mr. Gassaway,
St. George's parish fell off from one hundred and
fifty-five communicants to sixty-eight ; the indebted-
ness increased from six thousand nine hundred dollars
to over ten thousand dollars, and in February, 1855,
a number of the members withdrew to form Trinity
Church. In 1856, however, the Rev. Mr. Hopkins
reported one hundred and sixty-six communicants and
the church free from debt. In 1857 the church
bought a lot in Bellefontaine cemetery for the inter-
ment of its indigent communicants. In 1860 the
organ which is still in use was bought for four thou-
sand three hundred dollars. At the close of the war,
in 1865, the church was in debt to the extent of fif-
teen thousand dollars, but this was fully paid off in
1866. In September, 1868, the Diocesan Conven-
tion, which elected Bishop Robertson, was held in
this church. In 1871 the present site of the church
was bought for eighteen thousand six hundred and
fifty-six dollars, and in 1872 the first church build-
ing and lot on Locust Street were sold to John R.
Shepley for fifty thousand dollars, although services
1 A controversy having arisen as to the mode in which Henry
Clay, the Whig statesman, was baptized, the Rev. Mr. Berkley,
who had officiated at that ceremony and who also read the fu-
neral service at the interment of Clay at Lexington, Ky., was
appealed to by W. A. Beil, of Paducah, Ky., for information on
the subject. Mr. Berkley replied that Mr. Clay was baptized
in his parlor at Ashland on the 22d of June, 1847, in the
form ordinarily observed in the Episcopal Church, i.e., "by
pouring a handful of water on his head in the name of the
Holy Trinity." One of bis daughters-in-law and four of his
granddaughters were baptized in the same way. It had been
asserted that Mr. Clay had been baptized by immersion, but this
statement was specifically denied by Mr. Berkley.
1726
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
continued to be held there until the chapel of the new
building was completed, May 1, 1873. The corner-
stone of the present church edifice was laid May 30,
1873, and the first services in the completed church
were held on Easter Sunday, 1874. The building is
cruciform, the nave being one hundred and fourteen
by fifty-five feet, and the transepts seventy-seven by
twenty-five feet. The height from the street to the
finial of the spire is one hundred and forty-five feet.
The seating capacity is eight hundred. The property
cost in all one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, !
and a debt of fifty-nine thousand dollars which re- j
mained at the time of completion was entirely canceled
in May, 1879. The present officers of the church
are : Senior Warden, John W. Luke ; Junior Warden,
Joseph W. Branch ; Secretary, D. E. Garrison ; '
Treasurer, M. W. Alexander ; Vestry, Edwin Harri- !
son, Isaac M. Mason, Hugh Rogers, John G. Wells,
H. T. Simon, H. H. Curtis, John D. Pope, John C.
Orrick, and Western Bascome. The number of com-
municants in 1882 was two hundred and seventy-five,
and the Sunday-school pupils numbered four hun- i
dred.
Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church is situ-
ated at the northwest comer of Washington Avenue
and Eleventh Street. Rev. George C. Betts is its
rector. In the sketch of St. George's Church it was
stated that Rev. E. Carter Hutchinson, D.D., resigned
the rectorship of that parish in 1852, much against
the wishes of a large number of his friends. These
friends at once conceived the project of organizing a
new parish for him, but nearly three years elapsed
before their efforts were successful. In February,
1855, however, Trinity parish was organized, mainly
by members of St. George's, who withdrew for the
purpose, and who elected as the first vestry, James
W. Finley, senior warden; T. S. Rutherford, junior
warden ; and L. Levering, C. Derby, N. Phillips, T.
Skinker, W. M. Price, M. Moody, S. 0. Butler, T.
Griffiths, L. P. Perry, E. Barry, and J. Y. Page,
vestrymen. The new congregation met at first, and
for some months, in St. Paul's Church, corner of
Fifth and Wash Streets. A hall was then rented
from the Cumberland Presbyterians, at Eleventh '
and St. Charles Streets, and later a building which :
' ~
had been used by the Congregationalists on Locust
between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. The present
site of the church was leased for a term of forty years
from Feb. 1, 1859, Messrs. Derby, Powell, and
Shands being the selecting committee, and in October,
1859, the erection of the building was begun. The
corner-stone of the church was laid with impressive ;
services by Bishop Hawks, assisted by several other '
clergymen, on March 14, 1860, and the rector, Dr.
Hutchinson, preached his first sermon in the com-
pleted building, then considered one of the finest in
the city, on June 20, 1861. The structure was sixty-
six feet long, forty-seven feet wide, and fifty-six feet
high. The number of communicants June 20, 1861,
was one hundred and thirty. On Jan. 22, 1865, the
church was burned down, but was immediately re-
built and again consecrated Aug. 27, 1865. It is a
neat stone edifice, with a seating capacity of nearly
seven hundred, and has a chapel and Sunday-school
room in the rear. Dr. Hutchinson resigned the rec-
torship Feb. 1, 1869, and was succeeded by Rev. J.
D. Easter, D.D., who served until 1872. During
this period the parish suffered greatly from financial
embarrassments and the withdrawal of its members,
several of whom joined in organizing the Church of
the Holy Communion. Rev. Joseph Cross, D.D.,
served as rector for a few months in 1872, but on the
15th of November, 1872, Bishop Robertson assumed
the rectorship, with Rev. Edwin Coan as assistant,
and under their management strenuous efforts were
made to clear off the debt. Several changes were in-
troduced, one that remains yet being the substitution
for the paid choir of one composed of surpliced men
and boys, whose music has become justly celebrated.
The present rector entered upon his duties on Easter,
1876. Under his ministrations the church has pros-
pered, and is now in a fair way to clear off all incum-
brances. When the lease expires in 1899, or perhaps
sooner, the parish will probably be prepared for a re-
moval farther west. The congregation at present
numbers about one hundred families, or four hundred
and fifty persons, with two hundred and seventy-five
communicants. The Sunday-school is attended by
ten teachers and eighty scholars.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy
Communion, situated at the northwest corner of
Twenty-eighth Street (Leffingwell Avenue) and Wash-
ington Avenue, Rev. P. G. Robert, rector, grew out
of a mission Sunday-school in connection with Trinity
Church (Rev. Dr. Hutchinson, rector), with William
H. Thomson superintendent, which was held in a
brick school-house on Morgan Street, near Garrison
Avenue. This building had been fitted up for relig-
ious purposes, and services were held in it thence-
forward every Tuesday evening, the city clergy
officiating in turn. After several unsuccessful efforts
the parish was finally organized Jan. 24, 1869,
its first vestry consisting of Francis Webster and
William T. Mason, wardens ; Francis Carter, James
Wilgus, N. G. Hart, William J. Lewis, R. W. Powell,
R. M. Wilson, H. G. Isaacs, L. E. Alexander, Wil-
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1727
liam H. Thomson, Elijah Welles, and J. T. Utter-
back. Francis Carter was elected clerk, and L. E. Alex-
ander treasurer. Rev. P. G. Robert, then at Little
Rock, was chosen rector, and preached his first ser-
mon June 6, 1869. A lot was bought on the corner
of Washington and Ewing Avenues, which was sub-
sequently exchanged for the present site, which is
eighty and three-twelfths feet in width, and cost twelve
thousand dollars. Ground was broken June 15,
1870, and a chapel (now the transept) was built and
first occupied Dec. 18, 1870. The little school-
house on Morgan Street, which this congregation had
up to this period used, was the property of William
J. Lewis (one of the vestrymen), who had given the
use of it, rent free, for five years. Its site is now oc-
cupied by a residence. Work on the nave was begun
June 15, 1876, the first stone was laid July 2, 1876,
and the whole church was opened for service on Easter
Eve, March 31, 1877. The building is of stone, and
one hundred and twenty -five feet in depth, and it
contains seven hundred and two sittings. In this
church no pews are sold, and the singing is congre-
gational, these having been two of the conditions
upon which the rector took charge of the parish.
Nearly all the furniture and ornaments of the church
are memorials of deceased persons. The sacred ves-
sels were manufactured from silver relics of departed
friends, some of the articles being nearly two hundred
years old, contributed for the purpose by members
of the congregation. The communion-plate was
first used Jan. 2, 1876, and the alms-basin on the
Easter following. While the nav,e of the church
was building the congregation worshiped in a wooden
chapel which they had purchased from Dr. Brank's
congregation. The parish began with twenty-three
communicants, and now numbers four hundred and
seven. Its membership embraces two hundred and
twenty families. The Sunday-school has twenty-
seven teachers and an attendance of two hundred and
seventy-five pupils. Connected with the church are
the Parish Aid Society, Maternity Society for assist-
ing poor women, Young Ladies' Sewing Circle, and
the Parish Missionary Society, all in vigorous opera-
tion, and the Parish Guild. The Parish Record, a
four-page monthly journal, is published by an asso-
ciation of members of the parish. Its first number
was issued Nov. 28, 1880.
Mount Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church,
southwest corner of Lafayette and Jefferson Avenues,
Rev. Benjamin E. Reed, rector, was organized Sept.
6, 1870, in Compton Hill Mission school-house, a
small frame building on Henrietta Street, north of
Lafayette Avenue. Prominent among its founders
were George D. Appleton, Wells Hendershott, Lewis
Lipman, James 0. Broadhead, T. A. Hutchins,
David Davis, and Hugh Davis. Henry Shaw gave
a lot, one hundred and seventy-five by four hundred
feet, at the head of Lafayette Avenue, on Grand Av-
enue, and on this, through the munificence of George
D. Appleton, who defrayed nearly the entire cost, a
beautiful church was built at an expenditure, for build-
ing, furniture, etc., of about twelve thousand dollars.
It was consecrated in 1871. C. B. Clark was the arch-
itect. The rectors have been Rev. W. 0. Jarvis, who
took charge Jan. 23, 1871, resigned Jan. 31, 1872;