|
|
|
|
|
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
(662) 328-6673
|
|
|
|
-
Parish History
-
The first Episcopalians to settle in Columbus were Abram Maer and Richard Evans and their families, who arrived in 1834 from North Carolina. By the next year several more Episcopal families had arrived, and a committee was formed to establish a church. Also at that time the Ladies' Sewing Society was formed. This society was to provide crucial furnishings in the church's early years. The parish was organized and on January 1, 1837 , Articles of Association were adopted, and Matthias Forbes was called as St. Paul's first rector.
Construction of a wood frame church was consecrated April 22, 1838. It was located where the Chamber of Commerce is now. It was consecrated by Bishop Jackson Kemper, who confirmed 15 people in the first Mississippi parish outside the Jackson district. Plastering, furnishings, vestments, and linens were given by the Ladies Society, which also paid for a New York organ in 1839.
In 1842, George Freeman was called as rector for the church of 34 communicants. In 1844, William Halsey of Vermont replaced Freeman as rector. Halsey was followed by Benjamin Miller in 1846, who was followed by A.D. Corbyn in 1851.
On May 23, 1854, with Thomas Mott as rector, the Vestry voted to raise money for a new church building and bought the present property for $1500. Begun in 1856, construction was completed in March 1859. A new Ferris organ was installed, and the Ladies Society gave a concert to raise money to finish the church and provide cushions for the pews. On December 18, 1860, the new building was consecrated by Bishop William Mercer Green, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. A. P. Barnard, President of the University of Mississippi.
After the Civil War ended in the spring of 1865, May 8th became a holiday for the black population in commemoration of their emancipation. Since this was a holiday for the family cooks, the women of St. Paul's began serving lunch on that day. The Eight O'May luncheon continues with it recipes historically fixed.
J.T. Pickett served as rector from 1866 to 1869. Jos. L. Tucker becomes rector in 1872, the same year women were given the right to vote for vestrymen and wardens, although they were not eligible to serve in those capacities. In 1875 the new rectory, now a state visitors' center on Main Street, was built next to the church. John Blair Linn became rector that same year, followed by William Munford in 1880.
In 1883 St. Paul's for the first time hosted the annual Diocesan Council. In 1889, Mr. William H. Barnwell become rector, and Miss Jeannie Vaughan led a campaign to purchase a new Pilcher organ for the church. A plaque on the face of the present organ pipe chamber dedicates the organ to her aunt, Jeannie Vaughan Winston.
In 1896 the Tiffany window depicting the Risen Christ was installed and in 1899 a Parish Hall was built and dedicated as a memorial to Mrs. Harriet I. Ward. This building was demolished in 1955 when the present Parish Hall was built, but the stained glass windows with Mrs. Ward's name were moved to the sacristy.
Robert Barnwell becomes rector in 1902, to be followed in 1905 by Walter Dakin, grandfather of Thomas Williams, later know as the playwright Tennessee Williams, born in Columbus in 1911. Both Dakin and Williams lived in the rectory until Mr. Dakin moved to Columbia, Tennessee in 1913. During Dakin's tenure the ladies of St. Paul's collected silver, gold, and jewels and had them made into the chalice and paten that are in use today.
During 1913 Sarah Winters was hired as the first female sexton. She served in that capacity for 40 years and then came to ring the bell each Sunday at church after her retirement in 1953. Also in 1913, the Altar Guild installed a new altar and reredos; the old altar was given to the "new" Episcopal Church at Starkville.
In 1914, William Samuel Slack became rector. He was followed by E. Lucien Malone in 1918. In 1920 Davis Patty became superintendent of the Sunday School and began the practice of conducting a catechism drill at the beginning of each Sunday session. In his constancy, his insistence on reverence, and his faithfulness in years of transition, "Mr. Patty," who joined the choir in 1914, was the preeminent layman of St. Paul's Church until his death in 1985.
In 1922, H.M.D. Martin became rector. The years of the Twenties saw several changes in and around the church including new chandeliers, street paving, sidewalk extension, and repairs to the church and rectory. Duncan M. Gray, Sr., who took over as Rector in 1929, and he later became Bishop of Mississippi.
The two pole lights now in the Prayer Garden were placed in front of the church in 1930, and in 1931 the choir took its place in the new choir stalls. Under Gray, St. Paul's celebrated its centennial on Dec. 3-5, 1937.
In 1939, Jones Hamilton becomes rector of St. Paul's, the same year there was a fire in the parish hall. He was followed by Cecil B. Jones, who became Rector in May, 1943, the month that Duncan Gray, Sr., became bishop. In November 1947, the Vestry approved a Sunday radio program to be sponsored by Egger's Department Store. Prayer books were offered to listeners. Davis Patty conducted this radio program of Morning Prayer with recordings of St. Paul's choir. It continued each Sunday morning until the 1970's. After the service Mr. Patty would drive to Macon or Brooksville to conduct Morning Prayer and then return to conduct Sunday school and sing in the choir at St. Paul's.
Meanwhile, Cecil Jones took Holy Communion to Macon on the first Sunday of the month and conducted services at St. Stephen's, a black mission in Columbus.
By 1949 the Vestry saw the need for improvements in the physical facilities. A contract for air-conditioning was signed that year, and the Aeolian Skinner Organ was ordered in 1952. The next year the new organ was dedicated, and the process of building a new parish hall was started.
Construction of the new parish hall was begun in 1955 and completed two years later. The construction crews moved the rectory to the west to make way for the new building. The chapel was given by Mrs. Pratt Thomas in memory of her parents. The stained glass windows in the chapel are from the Willett Studio in Philadelphia.
In 1963 Polly Dunn became the first woman elected to the Vestry. After Father Jones, whose 20-year tenure remains the longest in the history of the parish, Robert H. Lockard became Rector in 1964. Between 1965 and 1971, stained-glass windows from Whipple that depicted the life of Christ were installed.
Hunt Comer became Rector in 1967. The 1960s and 1970s were the decades of prayer book revision and some turmoil in the Episcopal church. During this time Bishop John Allin preached here on the inappropriateness of having St. Stephen's Mission as a separate church for black Episcopalians. He closed the mission and moved its membership to St. Paul's. During this same period, St. Paul's contributed to the establishment of the Church of the Good Shepherd as a mission in east Columbus.
In 1978 Charles K. Floyd became Rector, and in 1981 St. Paul's and Good Shepherd hosted the Diocesan Council. The Commercial Dispatch referred to the opening Evening Prayer service at the City Auditorium as the "Service of Bringing in the Flags."
In 1983 William Murray Bullock became Rector. In 1985 the organ was expanded, and new trumpet pipes were installed above the narthex. In 1991 St. Paul's hosted the Diocesan Council at the Trotter Convention Center. At the Sunday closing Eucharist, the building manager saw the smoke from the incense in the hallway and called the fire department. He discovered the truth just in time to stop the firemen on their way in the front door.
The early 1990s were a time of long -range planning under Bullock's leadership. This led to the addition of the Pauline Long Dunn Education Building to house much of the Sunday School and the new St. Paul's Episcopal School for children 6 weeks to 4 years-old. The rectory (now called the Tennessee Williams House) was moved to its present location as Columbus visitors' center on Main Street.
In 1997, Kelly Brown was hired as Director of Programs and Ministries, and Mr. Eric Daffron became the organist and choir director as well. In 1999, Murray Bullock retired, and Ray Pradat served as interim Rector during the search process for a new Rector.
In October, 2000 Rob Wood was called as Rector and on on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 2001, he was installed as the 35th Rector of St. Paul's Church. Under his leadership, the vestry began a stragegic (and ongoing) plan that focused on needed facility repair, outreach, evangelism, Christian Education, pastoral care, and the preschool.
The Rev. Rob Wood accepted a call to Alpharetta, Georgia in October 2004. The Rev. Dr. Edward de Bary came as interim rector January 1, 2005. He had recently retired as director of the Education for Ministry program of the School of Theology of the University of the South, Sewanee, TN.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief history, and hope you will come to be part of St. Paul's future.
| | | |
|
|
|
