St. John's Episcopal Church (Keokuk, Iowa)

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St. John’s Episcopal Church
and Parish Hall
Keokuk St Johns.JPG
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Location4th and Concert Streets
Keokuk, Iowa
Coordinates 40°23′48″N91°22′50″W / 40.39667°N 91.38056°W / 40.39667; -91.38056 Coordinates: 40°23′48″N91°22′50″W / 40.39667°N 91.38056°W / 40.39667; -91.38056
Arealess than one acre
Built1884-1888
ArchitectDaniel Appleton
H.M. Stephenson
Architectural style Gothic Revival
NRHP reference # 89000806 [1]
Added to NRHPJuly 11, 1989

St. John's Episcopal Church is a parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. It is located in Keokuk, Iowa, United States. It was listed, together with the parish hall, on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. [1]

Parish church church which acts as the religious centre of a parish

A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.

Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which covers all of Iowa. It is in Province VI. Its offices are in Des Moines, and it has two cathedrals: the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Des Moines and Trinity Cathedral in Davenport.

Keokuk, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 10,780 at the 2010 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park. It is in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa, where the Des Moines River meets the Mississippi. It is at the junction of U.S. Routes 61, 136 and 218. Just across the rivers are the towns of Hamilton and Warsaw, Illinois, and Alexandria, Missouri.

Contents

History

St. John's Church was begun by the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, Missionary Bishop of the Northwest, on April 20, 1850. The Rev. Otis Hackett served as the first rector of the church from 1850 to 1853. The first frame church for the parish was built under his direction in 1851. The property, on which the present church also stands, was a gift from Josiah Spalding of St. Louis. Services were held in parishioners' homes until it was completed.

Jackson Kemper Episcopalian missionary bishop

Jackson Kemper in 1835 became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Especially known for his work with Native American peoples, he also founded parishes in what in his youth was considered the Northwest Territory and later became known as the "Old Northwest", hence one appellation as bishop of the "Whole Northwest". Bishop Kemper founded Nashotah House and Racine College in Wisconsin, and from 1859 until his death served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin.

A rector is, in an ecclesiastical sense, a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations. In contrast, a vicar is also a cleric but functions as an assistant and representative of an administrative leader.

St. Louis independent city in Missouri, United States

St. Louis is a major independent city and inland port in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is situated along the western bank of the Mississippi River, which marks Missouri's border with Illinois. The Missouri River merges with the Mississippi River just north of the city, forming the fourth-longest river system in the world. The city had an estimated 2018 population of 302,838 and is the cultural and economic center of the St. Louis metropolitan area, which is the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, and the 20th-largest in the United States.

St. John's was one of five founding parishes that established the Diocese of Iowa in 1853. It also established five Episcopalian missions in and around Keokuk. That number includes St. Barnabas in Montrose and St. Mary the Virgin in Keokuk. The later was the first black Episcopal Church established in Iowa. None of the missions exist today. [2]

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (Montrose, Iowa) United States historic place

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church is a former church building in the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa located in Montrose, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The building is now called St. Barnabas Wedding Chapel.

Montrose, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Montrose is a city in Lee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 898 at the 2010 census. The town is located on the Mississippi River. It is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA-MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

During the Civil War several St. John parishioners left to serve in the Union Army. Included in their number were Generals Samuel Ryan Curtis, who was serving as a congressman at the time, Hugh Thompson Reid, James C. Parrott, and William W. Belknap, who was later Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant. Other parishioners included Colonels William H. Worthington and John A. McDowell. "No other city in Iowa furnished as many high ranking officers as did Keokuk, and no other church could boast as many regimental commanders and generals from (its) membership." [2]

American Civil War Internal war in the U.S. over slavery

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights in order to uphold slavery.

Union Army Land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War

During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States as a working, viable republic.

A general officer is an officer of high rank in the army, and in some nations' air forces or marines.

The present church building was designed by Boston architects Daniel Appleton and H.M. Stephenson. It was built by F. W. Menke of Quincy, Illinois. The Rev. Robert C. McIlwain was rector at the time. Work was begun on the structure on June 5, 1884, and the first services were held in the church on February 12, 1888. The church was consecrated on January 4, 1891 by Bishop William Stevens Perry. The parish hall was constructed in 1895. [3] It was designed by the same architects and built by the same contractor as the church. [2] It contains space for parish offices, education, and social uses. The rectory, located next to the church, was completed in 1913. It was completed by the Rev. John C. Sage, who would become the bishop of the Diocese of Western Kansas.

Boston State capital of Massachusetts, U.S.

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States, as well as the 21st most populous city in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 694,583 in 2018, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States.

Quincy, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Quincy, known as Illinois's "Gem City," is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2010 census counted a population of 40,633 in the city itself, up from 40,366 in 2000. As of July 1, 2015, the Quincy Micro Area had an estimated population of 77,220.

William Stevens Perry Second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa.

William Stevens Perry was a 19th-century bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and an educator. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Iowa from 1876 - 1898.

Architecture

The church is a combination of Gothic Revival in its style and Richardsonian Romanesque in its form and massing. The building measures 118 feet (36 m) long and 48 feet (15 m) high. The nave is 54 feet (16 m) wide with a transept that measure 82 feet (25 m) in total width. The corner bell tower is 75 feet (23 m) high and contains the bell from the original church. [3] Both the church and the hall are built of Bedford limestone and they have a slate roof.

Gothic Revival architecture Architectural movement

Gothic Revival is an architectural movement popular in the Western world that began in the late 1740s in England. Its momentum grew in the early 19th century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval Gothic architecture, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. Gothic Revival draws features from the original Gothic style, including decorative patterns, finials, lancet windows, hood moulds and label stops.

Richardsonian Romanesque Romanesque Revival architectural style, named for Henry Hobson Richardson

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), whose Trinity Church, Boston (1872–1877), is designated a National Historic Landmark. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870.

Nave main body of a church

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

The interior of the church contains hand-carved furnishings by William Bartels of Carthage, Illinois. He carved the reredos, altar, altar rail, chancel screen and the ends of the pews. The three panels on the front of the altar depict grapes and wheat to represent the Eucharist, and a bas relief of Christ carrying the cross. The baptismal font, carved by William Bawden in limestone, is the only item in the interior from the original church.

The church has more than forty stained glass windows. Most were installed at the time of construction; others were added over the years. The most recent window was installed in the 1970s. Seven different companies provided windows for the church, including Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich, Germany, Tiffany Studios of New York City, and the J. Wippell & Company of Exeter, England.

The pipe organ was built in 1965 by the Temple Organ Company of Lamoni, Iowa. It contains 22 registers, 27 ranks, and 1,520 pipes. [3] There is a processional organ in the rear of the nave.

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References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dowling. "St. John's Episcopal Church and Parish Hall". National Park Service . Retrieved 2018-10-12. with photos
  3. 1 2 3 "History". St. John's Episcopal Church. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
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