History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 158

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 158

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

has had as assistants Rev. D. W. C. Loop, appointed in 1856; Rev. T. I. Holcombe, deacon, from June 28, 1858, till Oct. 1, 1859, when he went as mis- sionary to Springfield, Mo .; and Rev. W. W. Sil- vester, who still fills the position.

The church, which had been built in 1829, was consecrated May 25, 1834, by Right Rev. B. B. Smith, Bishop of Kentucky, this being the first visit to St. Louis of a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the first occasion on which the rite of confirmation was administered by a Protestant Epis- copal bishop in Missouri. In May, 1836, the parish (after sixteen years of growth) numbered only one hundred and ninety persons in the congregation, forty communicants, and from sixty to seventy children in the Sunday-school. On the 29th of June of that year it was decided to erect a new and larger building, sixty by ninety feet. A lot at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut Streets, eighty-five by one hundred and thirty-five feet, was purchased for ten thousand two hundred dollars (one hundred and twenty dollars per foot), and the old building and lot were sold to the Baptist Society for twelve thousand dollars, possession to be given in a year's time. The basement of the new building was occupied in March, 1838, and the completed edifice was consecrated by Bishop Kemper on the 17th of February, 1839. Josiah Spalding, on behalf of the wardens and vestry, read and pre- sented to the bishop the instrument of donation. The sentence of consecration was read by the Rev. P. R. Minard. There were present of the clergy, be-

studied law for two years, then turned his attention to theology, and entered the ministry in 1841. He was for three years rector of Trinity Church, Marshall, Mich. ; for a year and a half rector of Grace Church, Lyons, N. Y .; for nearly ten years rector of St. John's Church, Buffalo, N. Y .; and has been for over twenty-eight years rector of Christ Church, St. Louis. He has been twice married, first in 1843 and again in 1854, and has a large family. A son, Rev. Louis S. Schuyler, died in 1879, at the age of twenty-seven, a self-devoted victim of yellow fever, in Memphis, whither he had voluntarily hastened in response to the cry for ministerial help, dying as he had lived, a hero in the cause of religion and a martyr to his own zeal. During the civil war Dr. Schuyler promptly espoused the cause of the Union, in the face of unpopularity and the desertion of friends, ministering to the sick and wounded in the military hospitals, when such ministrations were regarded as evidences of antagonism to the South and resented as such by Southern sympathizers; but when Confederate soldiers began to fill the hospitals and prisons and Dr. Schuyler was found to be as zealous in his ministra- tions to them as to those of the Union armies, the nobility of his character began to be appreciated and the clouds of unpop- ularity broke away. During his pastorate in St. Louis he has been several times called to other fields and twice back to his old parish in Buffalo, but has always declined to abandon his post. There is probably to-day in St. Louis no pastor more thoroughly venerated or beloved by his congregation.

sides the bishop and his assistants, the Rev. Messrs. Dresser, of Springfield ; Darrow, of Collinsville ; and Homan, of Kemper College.

The church it had been estimated would not cost more than $40,000, but when all the claims had been presented the aggregate was swelled to $70,000, leav- ing the parish $20,000 in debt. On the day follow- ing that of the consecration (Monday) the pews were sold. The building is described by Rev. Dr. Schuyler as being " a nondescript, of which nothing can be said save that it furnished uncomfortable sittings for about six hundred people."

At the time of the completion of the church the wardens were Wilson P. Hunt and H. L. Hoffman, and the vestrymen were J. P. Doan, Daniel Hough, H. Von Phul, Edward Tracy, Asa Wilgus, R. M. Strother, A. Hamilton, H. S. Coxe, and Josiah Spalding.

In March, 1839, Bishop Kemper announced that a body of Lutherans who had been persecuted by the government of Saxony, and who had arrived in St. Louis about three months before, desired to hold ser- vices in the church, and that he had granted their request. This congregation continued to worship in the basement of the church until 1842.

In the autumn of 1839 a burial-ground was pur- chased for the use of the parish for the sum of three thousand dollars, and steps were taken for laying out and ornamenting the grounds. In the fall of 1848 the church edifice was repaired at a cost of about five thousand dollars, and the church was closed for four months. In September of the same year a handsome marble font was presented to the church by Hon. L. M. Kennett.

On the 9th of May, 1853, a committee was ap- pointed to inquire where a new church lot could be bought, and for what the old could be sold, but no further action was taken until March 12, 1859, when the building and lot on Fifth Street were sold to Messrs. Crow & McCreery for eighty thousand dollars, with the condition that the consecrated walls should never be applied to any secular use, but should be at once torn down. The amount of the original pur- chase by the parish in 1836 was ten thousand two hundred dollars. On April 10, 1859, the present lot, one hundred and seventy-five feet on Locust Street by one hundred and six feet four inches on Thirteenth Street, was bought of James H. Lucas for forty-three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. The plans for the new building furnished by Leopold Eidlitz, of New York, were adopted July 11, 1859, and contracts were given out and work at once begun. The esti- mated cost was one hundred and twenty-five thousand

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dollars. The last service in the old church was held Jan. 22, 1860. During the interval, before the com- pletion of the new church, service was held at Mer- cantile Library Hall, until April 7, 1861, when the congregation united for worship with that of St. Paul's Church, which was then without a rector.

The corner-stone of the new edifice was laid April 22, 1860. Bishop Hawks conducted the ceremonies, assisted by Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D.D., rector of Christ Church ; Rev. F. J. Clerc, of Grace Church ; Rev. E. F. Berkley, of St. George's Church ; Rev. John Coleman, D.D., of St. John's Church ; Rev. R. E. Terry, of St. Paul's Church ; and Rev. E. C. Hutchison, of Trinity Church. Among the contents of the corner-stone were those which had been depos- ited in the corner-stone of the old church. After the usual ceremonies, Bishop Hawks delivered an address. The chapel was completed early in May, 1862, but owing to the delays and embarrassments caused by the civil war the main building was not finished until five years later. The walls had progressed to the height of some ten feet, and it was hoped that they would be ready for the roof by July, 1861, but when the ap- proach of winter necessitated a stoppage of the work, it was found that the funds had been exhausted. On the 4th of December, 1861, a resolution was passed by the vestry directing the building committee to notify the contractors to proceed no further with the main body of the church, and to cancel the contracts, if possible. Towards the close of 1861 it was decided that a strenuous effort should be made to complete the chapel, and mainly through the exertions of Alfred Mackey, secretary of the vestry, this work was accomplished in the spring of 1862. It was es- timated that sixty-five thousand dollars would be needed to put the main building in condition for wor- ship, and on the 8th of February, 1864, thirteen thou- sand dollars of the fifteen thousand dollars required to make up this sum was pledged by members of the congregation. Early in the spring of 1864 work on the walls was resumed. It soon became evident that more money would be required, and in the following autumn a fair was held, which realized the sum of ten thousand and twenty-five dollars. On the 22d of February, 1866, a parish-meeting was held to con- sult upon the best plan for raising funds to complete the church. According to the estimate of the archi- tect $40,120.50 would be required. It was agreed by the meeting that the vestry should be empowered to mortgage the property of the church for a sum sufficient to finish and furnish the building. On the 14th of May, 1866, another parish-meeting was held for the purpose of organizing as a religious corpora-

tion under the State Constitution. Articles of asso- ciation were adopted, and it was agreed to borrow the sum of fifty thousand dollars to complete the church. After several failures the loan was negotiated, and the work went on. The contributions to the building fund on Easter-day, 1867, amounted to twenty-one thousand five hundred and forty-seven dollars, and the construction of the edifice was now pushed more rapidly. In June, 1867, a proposition was made by Davis and Ritchie to erect galleries in the north and south transepts, on the condition that they should receive the proceeds of the sale of these pews and their rental for two years, the rental after that period to revert to the church. The sum of five thousand four hundred and fifty dollars was also realized in the presentation to the church by different individuals of twenty memo- rial windows. The church was first used for public worship on Christmas-day, 1867. During the interval the congregation had worshiped in the chapel, which was itself a church of moderate dimensions, and had been built as nearly as possible in accordance with the orig- inal plans. It was of the Gothic style of architecture, and its interior finish was elegant and beautiful.

In its completed form, Christ Church is undoubtedly one of the noblest edifices of its kind in the country. The architecture is Gothic, of the ornate early English style, and the arrangement is that of a nave and aisles. The nave is one hundred and twenty-six feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and ninety-three feet high, twenty-five feet higher than that of Trinity Church, and only ten feet lower than that of Westminster Abbey. The north and south aisles are each sixty- eight by fourteen feet wide, and the north and south transepts each eighteen by thirty-six feet. The chan- cel is thirty-five feet deep by thirty-seven and a half feet wide, and is separated from the nave by a hand- some arch. The total interior length is one hundred and sixty-one feet. At the north side is a vestry- room, into which a door opens from the chancel, and above the vestry-room there is a rector's study. A gallery is placed across the north and south transepts, and also at the west end of the nave, where the organ is situated. At the northwest corner of the building is the tower, as yet uncompleted. The structure is built in the most substantial manner throughout. All the stone used in the building is the Illinois sand- stone. The roof of the nave and chancel is open- timbered, massive in its framing and mouldings, and richly decorated. The uncompleted tower is to be one hundred and fifty feet high without spire, and handsomely ornamented. A stone porch and flying buttresses are also yet to be built. The walls and buttresses, and the mullions and tracery of the win-

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dows, are all of stone. The heavy stone arches of the chancel, transepts, and nave rest on four columns four fect in diameter, octagonal in shape and without capitals, a feature which adds to their apparent height and the grace of the arches. The lofty clear- story is supported by octagonal pillars two feet ten inches in diameter. The seating capacity (including the transept galleries) is fifteen hundred. The chapel attached will seat three hundred persons, and has connected with it rooms for Sunday-school, library, ladies' charitable meetings, choir rehearsals, and social gatherings. The windows of the church and chapel are of stained glass, and the pews and interior fittings throughout are of black walnut. The pulpit is octago- nal and of handsome design, as are also the altar, chan- cel rail, stalls, and prayer-desks. The edifice cost two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, and is un- equaled in the city, and almost in the United States, for the massive grandeur of its interior. The rector reported during 1882 four hundred and thirty-four communicants, and an attendance at Sunday-school of two hundred and thirty-nine scholars.

The congregation of Christ Church celebrated the semi-centennial anniversary of its organization on the 1st of November, 1869. The sermon was preached by the rector, Rev. Dr. Schuyler.

St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church was the second Episcopal congregation established in St. Louis. On the 5th of November, 1839, a preliminary meet- ing was held in the basement of Christ Church, at which Bishop Kemper presided, to take into consid- eration the expediency of establishing a new parish. It was decided that such action was expedient, and a committee of thirteen of the leading members of Christ Church was appointed to co-operate with the Rev. Mr. Minard in carrying the resolution into effect. The movement was regarded as being of a missionary character, and the church was usually spoken of as the Mission Church. St. Paul's Church was organized, and the first vestry were elected on the 20th of April, 1840. Its first rector was the Rev. Peter R. Minard, previously assistant at Christ Church, whose pastorate lasted from 1840 to 1846. Mr. Minard's successors were William B. Corbyn, 1846-48; David P. San- ford, 1850-51; William A. Leach, 1851-54; D. Gor- don Estes, 1854-55; R. E. Terry, 1856-60. During Mr. Terry's pastorate a new church edifice was con- secrated. The congregation had worshiped since its organization in a building at the corner of Fifth and Wash Streets, for which five thousand dollars was paid, but in 1856 this property was sold, and in the following year lots were purchased at the southwest corner of Olive and Seventeenth Streets. On this

site a church and rectory were built at a cost. of sixty- four thousand dollars, the work of construction having been begun in March, 1857, and the corner-stone laid, Bishop Hawks officiating, May 10, 1857. The church was finished and consecrated on the 19thi of June, 1859. Dr. Hawks began the service by reciting the 24th Psalm, and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Clerc, of Grace Church, who read the usual form of request for consecration. The rector, Rev. Mr. Terry, read the sentence of consecration, and Rev. Mr. Weller, of Jef- ferson City, and Rev. Mr. Dunn, of Hannibal, read the prayers. The lessons were read by the Rev. Mr. Clerc, of Grace Church. Bishop Hawks preached the consecration sermon, after which the communion was celebrated. The location of the church was at that time more westerly than that of any other Prot- estant Church in the city. It was of Gothic archi- tecture, with a front of sixty feet and a depth of one hundred and twenty feet. The tower rose to a height of eighty feet, and the front elevation was fifty feet from the pavement. An organ " of the workmanship of Messrs. Pilcher & Brother," of St. Louis, was placed in the building.

Rev. R. E. Terry, rector of the church, studied law in the office of Henry S. Geyer, of St. Louis, and prac- ticed his profession for two years in Howard County. He then studied theology, and was ordained a minis- ter of the Protestant Episcopal Church. On assuming the pastorate he found that the number of commu- nicants had dwindled to thirty-five. The congre- gation soon removed from Fifth and Wash Streets, where it had previously been established, to the hall of the Washington University, and services were held at the latter place until plans could be matured for the erection of the proposed new church. Through Mr. Terry's energetic labors, seconded by those of the con- gregation, the erection of the new building was pushed rapidly to completion. In 1861 the churchi had be- come so heavily encumbered with debt that the con- gregation was forced to sell the property, and St. Paul's became extinct.

St. Paul's Church (P. E.), Third near Lafayette Street, South St. Louis (Carondelet), Rev. Joseph De Forest, rector, was organized in the summer of 1868, and hield its first services August 30th of that year. The service was read by Rev. Charles Stewart, and the sermon was preached by Rev. E. F. Berkley. The congregation worshiped in rented halls until its present church was built. The property cost about five thou- sand dollars. The rectors have been the Revs. Charles Stewart, 1868-69 ; W. G. Spencer, D.D., 1869-70 ; M. S. Woodruff, 1870-72 ; O. H. Staples, 1873-79 ; J. P. T. Ingraham, 1879-81 ; and the present pas-

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tor since 1881. The church reports thirty-eight families and seventy-five communicants connected with the congregation, and three teachers with sixty children in the Sunday-school.

St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church .- A meeting of Episcopalians in favor of forming a parish in the southern part of St. Louis was held in Christ Church Oct. 12, 1841. Rev. Mr. Minard was chosen chairman, and J. W. Twitchell acted as secretary. On the 28th of December, 1861, St. John's Church was formally organized and the first vestry elected. At the same time the Rev. Whiting Griswold was chosen rector. Services were held at first on the upper floor of an engine-house, on Second Street south of Plum, it being deemed inexpedient to build a church at that time, owing to the financial embarrassment of the mother parish,-Christ Church. Subsequently a brick edifice was erected on leased ground at the corner of Fifth and Spruce Streets. This was re- placed by another brick structure, scating five hundred persons, erected at the southeast corner of Sixth and Spruce Streets, which was consecrated by Bishop Hawks in the latter part of August, 1853. This property was sold in 1871 for fifteen thousand dollars, for the use of the Italian Catholic congregation.

Rev. Whiting Griswold, first rector, died on the 24th of July, 1849, from congestion of the brain, superinduced by overwork during the yellow fever pestilence. At the time of Mr. Griswold's death a lot had been purchased at Eighth and Gratiot Streets and the foundation laid for a new church edifice. 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, was organized in May, 1844. Its site was a lot of 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 sct 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 & small church building was erected. Messrs. Cressy, Weller, 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

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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 1860 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 soutli, and was greatly im-

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 158

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358