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 Trinity Episcopal Church - Atchison, Kansas Posted by:  iconions
N 39° 33.571 W 095° 07.133
15S E 317968 N 4381013
This English Gothic Revival church, built in 1867, is located at 300 South 5th Street in Atchison, Kansas.
Waymark Code: WMTCXQ
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 11/03/2016
Views: 1
The history of Trinity Church is closely connected with the development of the city of Atchison, the state of Kansas and the Episocal Diocese of Kansas. First organized in 1857 with the assistance of the Philadelphia Society for Missions in the West, the parish was originally named the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Before a building was constructed, the parish met in homes, rented halls, and occasionally, the county courthouse.
Disagreements among residents in the territory of Kansas about the question of slavery were felt at the parish. Several members left to form a new parish called Grace Church. This new parish, however, did not survive. The members returned to St. Mary Magdalene, and the parish was reorganized as Trinity Episcopal Church in 1859.
In 1864, Trinity Parish hosted the Fifth Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. It was at this convention where Thomas Hubbard Vail was elected as the first Episcopal Bishop of Kansas. He also accepted an invitation to serve as Rector of Trinity Church. He then served as both rector of the parish and Bishop of the Diocese.
Trinity Episcopal’s current church was designed by architect James C. Sidney in 1866. The design of the building was based on the architecture of Calvary Church in Stonington, CT. Construction of a new building for the parish was completed in 1868. Trinity Episcopal Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Over the years, a number of distinguished clergy have served at Trinity Church. Three of Trinity’s rectors were nominated and elected as bishops to the episcopate. One rector, Rev. John Henry Hopkins, composed the hymn, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God,” which is included in the most current hymnal of the Episcopal Church.
Of note, the famous female aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, was born in Atchison and baptized at Trinity Episcopal in 1897. She attended Trinity as a child during her frequent visits to her grandparents’ home in Atchison. Amelia’s grandparents, Judge Alfred and Amelia Otis, were early Atchison residents and founding members of Trinity Church.
- Trinity Episcopal Church Website
Trinity Episcopal Church is located at the southeast corner of Fifth and Utah (U.S. 59) in Atchison, about two blocks south of the central business district. It faces north toward Utah Street, which is the main east-west artery through Atchison. The church was designed in the Early English Gothic style and was built of coursed limestone rubble. It is rectangular in plan, about 45 by 75 feet, with a projecting vestibule on the north end and a polygonal apse on the south. (A wing of the Parish Hall abuts the south end of the church and wraps around the apse, but it is not a part of the nominated building.) The church has parapet gables and a multicolored, patterned slate roof. There is no tower or steeple. Instead, an open bellcote (which never contained a bell) rises from the peak of the north gable.
The projecting vestibule is located in the center of the north facade. The double doors were installed in 1961. They were carved by Joe Ihasz, a Hungarian native who came to the United States in 1950. Above the vestibule is a pair of lancet windows surmounted by a small circular window. Two other lancet windows flank the vestibule, and two small ones are placed in the sides of the vestibule itself. The east and west walls once had seven lancet windows each, but the southernmost window on either side has been filled in. All the windows have stained glass. Most are memorial windows which have been installed through the years to commemorate members of the congregation. The walls are supported by stepped buttresses with diagonal buttresses at the corners."
Trinity Episcopal Church is significant both for its architecture and for its place in the history of the City of Atchison, It is one of the two finest and most intact examples of mid-nineteenth century English Gothic religious architecture in Kansas. (The other is St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Leavenworth. Other early churches in the English Gothic tradition in Kansas are either simpler or less intact.) Begun in 1866 and completed in 1868, it was designed, according to the vestry records, by "Mr. Sidney of Philadelphia." This was evidently James C. Sidney, an architect who practiced in Philadelphia in the 1860s and 70s, and who is known to have designed at least one other Episcopal Church.
The design of Trinity Church is believed to be based closely on that of Calvary Episcopal Church in Stonington, Connecticut, which was designed by Richard Upjohn and erected in 1848.
The congregation had its beginning in 1857, shortly after the founding of Atchison in 1854, the year Kansas was opened for settlement."
- National Register Application
Date the Church was built, dedicated or cornerstone laid: 01/01/1867
Age of Church building determined by?: Cornerstone or plaque
If denomination of Church is not part of the name, please provide it here: Episcopal
If Church holds a weekly worship service and "all are welcome", please give the day of the week: Sunday
Indicate the time that the primary worship service is held. List only one: 10:30 AM
Street address of Church:
300 South 5th St
Atchison, KS USA
66002
Primary website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link]
Secondary Website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link]
If Church is open to the public, please indicate hours: Not listed
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