St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Durant, Iowa)
St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Parish Hall | |
Location | 206 6th Ave. Durant, Iowa |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°35′55″N 90°54′46″W / 41.59861°N 90.91278°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1856 |
Architectural style | Italianate Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 85000002[1] |
Added to NRHP | January 3, 1985 |
St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a parish church in the Diocese of Iowa. The church is located in Durant, Iowa, United States. The church building and parish hall have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985.[1]
History
The Rt. Rev.
Thomas C. Durant, the town's founder, donated land for the first church. It was located on the north side of town and was dedicated by Bishop Lee in October 1856. That same year a "seminary" for girls, or junior/senior high school, was established. In the early 1870s, the seminary curriculum was expanded to include boys and a library was built. The co-educational boarding and day school was renamed the Boardman School, after its primary benefactor.[2] The school continued into the 1890s when Durant's public high school was established. The size of the congregation fluctuated with the local population in these same years. Because of the large number of German immigrants in Durant, services were held in the German language by 1879.[3]
By 1895 the congregation had outgrown its first building. On May 28 the original church was sold and the present building was purchased from the
Samuel A. Dutton was instrumental in St. Paul's acquiring the church. He joined the parish after settling here from New Milford, Connecticut. Dutton was very involved in parish life through the 1870s when he was dropped from the parish roles. He joined the Congregationalist Church where he became the Sunday school superintendent and he was one of three trustees when St. Paul's acquired the church building. Dutton re-joined St. Paul's at that point and remained until around 1916 when he established a private interdenominational Sunday school in town. A large part of St. Paul's congregation left with him.[3]
St. Paul's was unable to hold regular worship services from 1925 to 1944. During this time Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, which had been organized at this time, used the church building. In June 1944 the clergy and lay leaders from
An undercroft was added to the church in 1950. The "gingerbread gothic" steeple and belfry were restored in 1979. In 1981, the pipe organ from Trinity Cathedral was rebuilt and moved to Saint Paul's. It was later replaced for $6,000 in 1985 by the Kilgen organ, which had been built about 1879.[2] St. Paul's achieved parish status in 2004.
Architctecture
Both the church and the parish hall are rectangular wood-frame structures built on
The parish hall features a forty-five degree turned corner tower and entryway. At one time it was capped with a spire.
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Haugen, Alice. "Our history". St. Paul's Church. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
- ^ a b c d e f James E. Jacobsen. "St. Paul's Episcopal Church". National Park Service. Retrieved 2018-10-09. with photos
- ^ Horton, Loren N. (2003). The Beautiful Heritage: A History of the Diocese of Iowa. Des Moines: Diocese of Iowa. p. 95.
External links
Media related to St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Durant, Iowa) at Wikimedia Commons