Trinity Episcopal Church (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Trinity Episcopal Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	611 West Berry Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Coordinates	41°4′40″N85°8′52″W / 41.07778°N 85.14778°W / 41.07778; -85.14778
Area	less than one acre
Built	1865
Architect	C.C. Miller
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	78000044 [1]
Added to NRHP	September 13, 1978

Trinity Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal congregation and church, designed by Toledo, Ohio architect Charles Crosby Miller and constructed ca. 1865 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The congregation was organized in 1839 as Christ Church and the name changed in 1844 to Trinity Church. The first church was built on the southeast corner of Berry and Harrison Streets in 1848. ^[2] It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. ^[3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. ^[1]

History

The Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, Bishop of the Northwest, visited Fort Wayne for the first time in 1837 in an effort to organize a church. Two years later, he set the Rev. Benjamin Hutchins, formerly of Philadelphia, to organize a church, and Christ Episcopal Church was formally established on May 26, 1839. The congregation languished when Hutchins departed soon after, and in 1844, Peter P. Bailey, a businessman from New York City, began offering lay readings from the Book of Common Prayer. Bishop Kemper sent another missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Halsted, and on May 25, 1844, Trinity Episcopal Church was formally organized. After meeting initially in the Allen County Courthouse, the church raised funds for a wood framed chapel at the southeast corner of Berry and Harrison. (The present historical marker is inaccurate about its location).

In 1863, the vestry called the Rev. Joseph S. Large to lead an effort to build a new Gothic Revival Church under a design by Charles Crosby Miller of Toledo, Ohio. After many delays and financial shortfalls, the building was completed in the fall of 1866 and consecrated two years later by the Rt. Rev. Joseph C. Talbot, Bishop Coadjutor of Indiana.

Trinity Church has had the following rectors:

• Rev. Benjamin Halsted, 1844–1846
• Rev. Joseph S. Large, 1848–1854
• Rev. Caleb Alexander Bruce, 1854–1855
• Rev. Eugene Charles Pattison, 1856–1858
• Rev. Stephen Henry Battin, 1858–1863
• Rev. Joseph S. Large, 1863–1872
• Rev. Colin Campbell Tate, 1872–1879
• Rev. William Naylor Webbe, 1879–1888
• Rev. Alexander Washington Seabrease, 1888–1904
• Rev. Edward Wilson Averill, 1904–1923
• Rev. Louis Niccola Rocca, 1923–1930
• Rev. Charles Noyes Tyndell, 1931–1932
• Rev. James McNeal Wheatley, 1932–1947
• Rev. George Bartlett Wood, 1947–1971
• Rev. Chandler Corydon Randall, 1971–1988
• Rev. Frank Hazlett Moss III, 1990–1999
• Rev. Rebecca Ferrell Nickel, 2001–2004
• Rev. Thomas Parker Hansen, 2006–2016
• Rev. T. J. Freeman, 2017–

In 1955–1956, a large classroom building was added to the church to serve the needs of the growing parish. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Fort Wayne churches
3. "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2015-07-01.Note: This includes Alice Bird and Rev. C. Corydon Randall (November 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Trinity Episcopal Church" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-07-01., unknown (January 1981). "Supporting Documentation" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-07-01., and Accompanying photographs

Further reading

• John D. Beatty Beyond These Stones: a History of Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana Edition: Sesquicentennial ed. Binding: Hardcover Publisher: Trinity Episcopal, Fort Wayne, IN Date published: 1994 ISBN   978-0-9638508-0-5

External links

• Trinity Episcopal Church website