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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01715 2536
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https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00durr
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ST. PAUL'S, LOUISVILLE, KY.,
As first built in 1839-
AN
HISTORICAL SKETCH
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, OF
LOUISVILLE, KY.
Prepared for the Semi-Centennial Celebration, October 6, 1889,
BY
REUBEN T. DURRETT, President of the Filson Club.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE FILSON CLUB.
...
LOUISVILLE: JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE FILSON CLUB. 1889
1555859
COPYRIGHTED BY REUBEN T. DURRETT 1889 17778 xe
le EDICATION.
TO THE MEMORY OF ELIZABETH BATES DURRETT AND HER DAUGHTERS, LILY BATES AND FLORENCE MONTGOMERY DURRETT, THIS HISTORIC SKETCH OF THE CHURCH, WITH WHICH THEIR LIVES AND THEIR DEATHS WERE CONNECTED, IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY A HUSBAND AND FATHER.
1 REFACE.
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At the request of Dr. Perkins, the Rector of St. Paul's Church, the following Historic Sketch was prepared for the Semi-Centennial Celebration of that church, October 6, 1889. It was not intended that it should be read as part of the pro- ceedings of the celebration, it being too long for such a pur- pose, but that it might be printed for the benefit of those who might want copies. It is now published for this pur- pose, accompanied by an introduction giving an account of what was done at the celebration. The sketch and the pro- ceedings taken together complete the story of St. Paul's for the first fifty years of its existence. Though not written directly for the Filson Club, this sketch has been deemed worthy of preservation among its archives, and is therefore printed as Filson Club Publication No. 5.
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INTRODUCTION.
Proceedings of the Semi-Centennial Celebration.
On Sunday, the 6th of October, 1839, St. Paul's Church, in Louisville, Ky., was consecrated, and it was intended by the rector and vestry to have an appropriate celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of this event on Sunday, the 6th of October, 1889. It happened, however, that the Bishop of the Diocese and the rector of St. Paul's were both in New York attending the Triennial Episcopal Convention, and that Bishop Dudley, whose presence was deemed essential to the commemorative ceremonies, could not be in Louisville at that date. It was therefore determined to have the cele- bration on Sunday, the 3d of November, 1889.
The Congregation.
On that day, Sunday, November 3d, beginning at half past seven in the evening, the semi-centennial of St. Paul's was celebrated with becoming ceremonies in the church- building, on the northwest corner of Walnut and Sixth streets. Every seat in the house and all the available standing-room
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INTRODUCTION.
were occupied by an immense congregation. The house was literally crowded to its utmost capacity, and never in so large an assemblage were there more order and decorum. All came, remained through the ceremonies, and retired with an apparent full sense of the dignity and solemnity of the occasion.
Survivors of Half a Century.
During the semi-centennial exercises the interior of the church presented a picture worthy of the artist's skill. In the sea of faces that spread from wall to wall and from chan- cel to tower, there were five with venerable lineaments dis- tinguished from all others. Miss Mary F. G. Brown, Mrs. Daniel B. Leight, Mrs. Dr. William Donne, and Mr. Richard A. Robinson were there, as they had been fifty years ago at the first celebration of the Lord's Supper. Mr. Redick D. Anderson was also there, as he had been at the consecration of the church fifty years before. These well-worn links in the golden chain that united celebrations in the same church separated by half a century were the observed of all ob- servers.
Clergymen Present.
In the chancel, at the western end of the building, clad in their clerical robes, were twelve Episcopal ministers-an accidental coincidence in number with the twelve promoters of the church who assembled at the Louisville Hotel five and fifty years before. They were Rt. Rev. T. U. Dudley,
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INTRODUCTION.
Bishop of Kentucky; Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, rector of St. Andrews; Rev. C. E. Craik, rector of Christ, and Rev. Roger H. Peters, assistant; Rev. S. E. Barnwell, rector of St. John's ; Rev. J. G. Minnigerode, rector of Calvary ; Rev. G. C. Betts, rector of Grace; Rev. M. M. Benton, rector of Advent; Rev. G. C. Waller, rector of Zion; Rev. Anselm Buchannan; Dr. E. T. Perkins, rector of St. Paul's, and Rev. Percy Gordon, assistant.
The Choir and Assistants.
At the keys of the great organ in the northern transept sat John M. Semple, the organist, with the choir of St. Paul's and a corps of amateur assistants around him. There ap- peared as sopranos, Mrs. John M. Byers, Mrs. William H. Dillingham, Mrs. Sarah E. Board, Mrs. Geo. W. Andersen, Miss Mary Griffith, and Miss Amelia Leonhardt; as altos, Mrs. Dorothea Berthel, Mrs. Lewis A. Williams, Miss Mar- garet Byers, and Miss Lily Parsons; as tenores, Mr. E. N. Morrison, Mr. Robert Fryer, Mr. John H. Vanarsdale, Mr. Charles R. Kiger, and Mr. William H. Dillinghan .; as bassos, Mr. Lewis A. Williams, Mr. Charles P. Fink, Mr. Percy Par- sons, Mr. John M. Byers, and Mr. William H. Byers.
The full choir in front of the huge organ and the robed clergymen in the chancel behind the corrugated pillars of the chancel arch presented a picturesque as well as impos- ing appearance from different parts of the building. Singers had been chosen, not for numbers only, but for a volume of music suited to the occasion, which was successfully done.
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INTRODUCTION.
Order of the Exercises.
A printed programme, giving the order of exercises, was distributed in the congregation. The following is a copy :
Anthem.
Except the Lord build the house,
They labor in vain that build it :
How amiable are thy dwellings,
O Lord of Hosts !
My soul longeth for God ;
Yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord :
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself.
Even thine Altars, O Lord of Hosts.
EVENING PRAYER (Proper Psalms, 122, 132, 143).
FIRST LESSON. Ist Kings, ix : 1-9.
Magnificat.
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maiden :
For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He, remembering his mercy, hath holpen his servant Israel, as he prom ised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, forever.
SECOND LESSON. Matthew xxii: 1-14.
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INTRODUCTION.
Nunc Dimittis.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word :
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Nicene Creed.
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible :
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made; Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man, And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, and was buried; And the third day he rose again, ac- cording to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins; And I look for the Resurrection of the dead. And the Life of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYER.
Hymn 202.
THE Church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord ; She is his new creation By water and the word : From heaven he came and sought her To be his holy bride ; With his own blood he bought her, And for her life he died.
Ia
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INTRODUCTION.
Elect from every nation, Yet one o'er all the earth, Her charter of salvation One Lord, oue faith, one birth ; One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses, With every grace endued.
Though with a scornful wonder, Men see her sore opprest, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distrest ; Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, "How long ?" And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song.
'Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace for evermore ; Till with the vision glorious Her longing eyes are blest, And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three in One And mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won: O happy ones and holy ! Lord, give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, On high may dwell with thee.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY THE RECTOR.
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INTRODUCTION.
Hymn 190.
Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God : He, whose word can not be broken, Form'd thee for his own abode ; On the Rock of Ages founded, What can shake thy sure repose ? With salvation's walls surrounded, Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
See, the streams of living waters, Springing from eternal love, Well supply thy sons and daughters, And all fear of want remove ; Who can faint while such a river Ever flows their thirst t' assuage ? Grace, which like the Lord, the giver, Never fails from age to age.
Round each habitation hovering, See the cloud and fire appear, For a glory and a covering, Showing that the Lord is near. Blest inhabitants of Zion, Wash'd in the Redeemer's blood ! Jesus, whom their souls rely on, Makes them kings and priests to God.
SERMON BY RT. REV. T. U. DUDLEY. OFFERTORY.
Anthem.
Hope in the Lord, Be of good courage, And hope in him, And he shall strengthen your heart, All ye that hope in the Lord.
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow ; Praise Him all creatures here below ; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
PRAYER .- BENEDICTION.
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INTRODUCTION.
The Music as Rendered.
The opening Anthem, one of the gems of Gilchrist, was rendered by the choir in superb style. The Glorias arranged from Mendelssohn's Scotch Symphony were also finely ren- dered. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in F, by Garrett, were given in a style worthy of these grand compositions. Hymn 202 to the charming music of Wesley, and 190 to the Austrian National Air, by Haydn, when swelled by a multi- tude of voices in the congregation, filled the nave and tran- septs of St. Paul's from the floor to the ceiling with a volume of melody worthy of the occasion. The Offertory, the cele- brated largo of Handel, was first rendered as a solo by Mr. Williams, and then as a unison chorus by the choir. To say that this glorious composition was faultlessly rendered, both as a solo and as a chorus, is to award it but little of the praise it deserves. It may be doubted whether such excel- lent music was ever heard before in St. Paul's as was enjoyed on this occasion, distinguished as its choir has ever been for the character of its music.
Reading of the Service.
In the divided work of the numerous ministers in the chancel, the reading of the Service to the Creed was assigned to Rev. C. E. Craik, the Lessons to Rt Rev. C. C. Penick, the Prayers to Rev. Anselm Buchannan, and the Hymns to Rev. Percy Gordon.
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INTRODUCTION.
The Rector's Address.
The historic address by Dr. Perkins covered the existence of the church from its inception on the 28th of Septem- ber, 1834, to the present time. All the essential facts were succinctly given, as well as the names of the promoters and many of those most concerned in the inauguration and prog- ress of the church. It was a skillful condensation into a lecture of thirty minutes of the leading events in the life of the church during a period of fifty years. Each rector, from Rev. William Jackson to himself, was mentioned, and the leading acts of his administration set forth.
The Bishop's Sermon.
The sermon by Bishop Dudley, from the text, "For with my staff have I passed over this Jordan," also dealt largely with the history of the church. He alluded to the men and women who, with the spiritual staff of the church, had passed the obstacles of life's Jordan, as the patriarch of old had crossed the river of Canaan with his physical support- who had made St. Paul's great for good during half a cen- tury, and then gone to their long rest wrapped in the mantle of its religious fame. St. Paul's did not remain a single church for fifty years, but sent out colonies for the founding of other parishes, whose combined work, parent and children together, had accomplished wonders for human souls. This, however, was the past; and what of the future ?
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INTRODUCTION.
Was St. Paul's to end with the good work already done, or, gathering strength from the impetus which fifty years had given, press onward to the accomplishment of nobler ends? And in thus looking to the future the Bishop, with masterly eloquence, asked for St. Paul's the benison of continuing a temple for the worship of the living God, instead of being turned to unhallowed uses-of remaining a church edifice, filled with the harmony of prayers and anthems, instead of a workshop, with the jargon of worldly pursuits. It would not be keeping religious faith with the founders of St. Paul's to permit the building which they had left in sacred trust to pass to sacrilegious uses at the bidding of fickle fashion or the demand of changeful convenience. Even if the require- ments of the future should demand a fairer edifice in a more congenial locality, there should be thrown over the old build- ing, around which cluster so many holy memories of the past, the ægis of an endowment broad enough to protect it from decay and to keep it fit for worship. St. Paul's thus continued would go on and on with its good work into the generations to come a power of the past made mightier by its strength of years. The modern fashion of getting rid of old church edifices and taking up with new ones has its evils mingled with whatever good may come of it. Ground once consecrated by the presence of the church should never pass to secular uses when it can reasonably be avoided. St. Paul's, like the mound on which it was reared, would better stand until time's erosion should level it with the ground than to fall at the hands of its beneficiaries or their descendants.
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INTRODUCTION.
A Distant Church Participates.
While the offertory anthem was being sung a collection was taken up, which was devoted to the Beattyville Episcopal Church. Beattyville is situated at the Three Forks of the Kentucky River, one hundred and fifty miles from Louisville. And thus these distant dwellers amid the mineral mountains of Lee County were made participants in the semi-centennial of St. Paul's.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, LOUISVILLE. OF
Roman and Hebrew Celebrations.
It was the beautiful custom of the ancient Romans to celebrate, with imposing ceremonies, every one hundred and tenth year of the existence of their government. Why they should have fixed upon the one hundred and tenth, instead of the one hundreth year, for their State festival we know not; but the custom has found such a response in human nature, everywhere and at all times, that with the variance of time only, by leaving off the surplus ten years, we now have the centennial celebration almost uni- versally popular.
The ancient Hebrews, wiser perhaps than the Romans, had their national jubilee every fifty years. On these oc- casions the lands were returned to those who had alienated them, the slaves were set free, and the obligations of debt- ors canceled. Whether such a custom was politically wise or could have been made practicable in later times, it was
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
full of the poetry and sentiment which finds congeniality in almost every human heart. The Babylonian captives returned to their native land, and celebrating their fiftieth year with harps that had hung upon foreign willows is a jubilee full of human sympathy, to say nothing of religious zeal.
What St. Paul's Has to Celebrate.
Fifty years ago to-day St. Paul's Church, in Louisville, was consecrated, and its first jubilee has now arrived. The church has no lands to give back to original owners, no slaves to give their freedom, no debtors to give their debts, but it has a history made venerable by the fifty years through which it has run-a history full of the memories of loved ones at its baptismal font, before its bridal altar, and beneath its funeral pall; a history hallowed by the recollections of mothers and fathers, and sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives who sat in its conse- crated pews and heard the words of eternal life from its sacred desk; a history made up of the joys and sorrows which have been a part of our religious being for half a century-a history which may not prove less acceptable at this time than were the jubilee gifts to the ancient Israel- ites. I propose therefore, on this occasion, in compliance with the request of its rector, to present an historic sketch of St. Paul's Church, from its beginning to the present time, as a fitting contribution to its semi-centennial cele- bration.
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ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, LOUISVILLE.
The Consecration Sermon.
On Sunday, the 6th of October, 1839, St. Paul's was con- secrated to divine worship in the presence of the largest congregation that had ever assembled in any church in Louisville. The consecration sermon was preached by Rev. John P. K. Henshaw, then rector of St. Peter's, Baltimore, who, four years afterward, became Bishop of Rhode Island. He was an intimate friend and instructor of the first rector of St. Paul's, and made the long journey from Baltimore to this city before the day of railroads, as we now have them, to preach the consecration sermon. His address, full of beauty and eloquence, was worthy of the occasion and was heard with delight, not only by members of this church but by citizens of other creeds who were present to do honor to the event. 1
St. Paul's and Other Churches Fifty Years Ago.
St. Paul's, then fresh from the builder's hands, was the largest and handsomest church in Louisville. It presented a front of eighty feet on Sixth Street, and extended west- wardly a depth of one hundred feet. In the auditorium and gallery were one hundred and fifty pews, capable of seating about 900 persons. John Stirewalt, the architect, aban- doned the flat wall and square interior and massive pulpit, which likened our early churches to unsightly barns, and
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
designed St. Paul's with pilastered walls and a groined ceil- ing, above which rose a medieval spire, all in the Gothic style. There were then thirteen other churches in Louisville : Christ Church, Episcopal, on Second Street, between Green and Walnut; the First Presbyterian, on Third Street, between Green and Walnut; the Second Presbyterian, on Green Street, between Center and Sixth; the Third Presbyterian, on Hancock, between Main and Market; the Fourth Pres- byterian, on Market, between Eighth and Ninth; the Meth- odist Episcopal, on Fourth, between Jefferson and Market; the Methodist Protestant, corner of Fourth and Green; the Baptist, corner of Fifth and Green; the Unitarian, corner of Fifth and Walnut; the Catholic Chapel, on Main, near Tenth; and the Catholic Church, on Fifth, between Green and Walnut; the Colored Baptist, on Market, between Seventh and Eighth; and the African, on Center, between Green and Walnut; but none of them equaled St. Paul's in beauty of architecture and in seating capacity. A new style of archi- tecture had been successfully introduced, and the result was pleasing not only to the members of the church but to the citizens at large.
Original Cost of St. Paul's.
Such a church, at that early day, could not have been · erected in Louisville without overcoming serious obstacles. Nobler edifices have since arisen in our city and over- shadowed St. Paul's both in architecture and dimensions,
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ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, LOUISVILLE.
but St. Paul's was built fifty years ago, when the population and wealth and taste of Louisville were not what they now are. Our entire population did not then exceed twenty thousand, and not one twentieth of them were Episcopa- lians. And yet fully fifty thousand dollars were raised at that early day for the purchase of the lot and the building of the church.
Sketch of the St. Paul's Lot.
The lot on which St. Paul's was erected had never been occupied by a previous building within the historic period. When the foundations of the church building were dug the spade passed through virgin soil, and a sketch of this lot pre- vious to its occupancy by the church can not fail to be enter- taining.
The Mound-Builders' Occupancy.
That mysterious people we call Mound-builders had oc- cupied the site of St. Paul's for a burying-ground in ages so far back that neither history nor tradition has handed down any account of them. As evidence of this occupancy, a mound stood on the site of St. Paul's, and was there as late as 1821, when Frederick W. Grayson dug it down to fill up the pond on whose margin it stood. Out of this mound relics of the people who reared it were dug, such as human bones almost crumbled to dust, flint arrow-heads, stone axes, etc. Even as recently as the last year, J. C. Baumberger, who now owns the house next to the church on the north, dug up
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
from the ground near the line between his lot and the church one of the largest and best specimens of the stone ax ever found.
The Red Indian's Claim.
The red Indian succeeded the Mound-builder in the oc- cupancy of this region, if, indeed, he can be said to have occupied any part of Kentucky, which he kept for a hunting- ground. That he hunted here, and even saw himself imaged in the beautiful lake at the foot of his predecessor's mound, is probable; but he never desecrated his favorite hunting- ground with the smoke of his wigwam. The church lot re- mained under the Indian as the Mound-builder had left it until the Kentucky pioneers came to turn it to the uses of Christianity and civilization.
Dr. Connolly's Ownership.
In 1773 Dr. John Connolly, of Pennsylvania, who had ex- plored this region in previous years, and had been charmed with the beauty of the Falls of the Ohio, determined to make the Falls the headquarters of a colony he had projected that was to extend to the mountains on the east, the Tennessee River on the south, and the Mississippi and Ohio on the west. As a surgeon's mate in the Colonial wars against the French and Indians, he was entitled to 2,000 acres of land, and he employed Capt. Thomas Bullitt, a surveyor of Vir- ginia, to locate this 2,000 acres at the Falls of the Ohio. In
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ST. PAUL'S CHURCHI, LOUISVILLE.
the summer of 1773 Capt. Bullitt was here with his corps of assistants, and ran the lines of the Connolly tract from near the mouth of Beargrass Creek, then emptying into the Ohio between the present Third and Fourth streets, along the me- anders of the river to the lower side of the present town of Shippingsport; thence southwestwardly to the intersection of the present Broadway and Nineteenth streets; thence east- wardly to the intersection of the present Shelby and Broad- way streets, and thence northwestwardly to the beginning. On this land Capt. Bullitt laid off a town on the high bank of the river just below the present Twelfth Street, and returned his plat and notes to Col. William Preston, the surveyor of Fincastle County, in which the land was then located. Col. Preston, because Capt. Bullitt had made the survey under authority from William and Mary's College and not as one of his deputies, refused the patent to Connolly. Lord Dunmere, however, was the friend of Connolly, and, disregarding the technical objections of Col. Preston, on the Ioth of December, 1773, issued the patent, which was the first ever granted in Kentucky.
Before any thing more than securing the patent and laying out the town on paper could be done on the Connolly tract, Connolly himself got into trouble with the Indians and the traders at Fort Pitt, of which he was commandant, and open hostilities ensued. The battle of Point Pleasant was fought with the Indians in the autumn of 1774, and soon thereafter the guns of the Revolutionary War were heard from Mas- sachusetts to Georgia. and from the Atlantic Ocean to the
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