Holy Cross Episcopal Church - North Main Street Historic District - Poplar Bluff, Missouri - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

"420 N. Main Street, Holy Cross Episcopal Church; ca. 1902. [c]
(Historically known as 708 N. Main Street)

A one-story side steeple church designed in the Late Gothic Revival style with a rusticated hollow core stone textured concrete block exterior over wood frame, steep front facing gable roof, tower, wall buttresses and Gothic arched stained windows. Entrance is located in the tower with paired red doors and a Gothic arched stained glass transom. In the gable end is a round stained glass window. The stone textured concrete block wall surface and tower wing was added to the original structure prior to 1917. A large rusticated concrete block addition is attached to the south elevation (ca. 2001) and to the east (rear) elevation, but does not detract from the historic character of the building." - Historic District Nomination

From church website:

"Since the early 1900s, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross has been the center of Episcopal worship in the Poplar Bluff area. The earliest record of Episcopal services in Poplar Bluff is a notation in the diary of then Bishop of Missouri Daniel Tuttle stating he held services here on September 30, 1891. The congregation was formally organized as a mission ten years later with seventeen families participating. In 1951, our Golden Anniversary year, the Diocese accepted our application for full parish status, and in 2001 we celebrated our 100th anniversary.

Our church building is a registered historic site, being the oldest church building in Poplar Bluff in continuous use (since 1903) by the same congregation. The original church building was frame, but about 1915 it was encased in concrete stone face block. In 1999 an ambitious building project was undertaken to enlarge the church, in part due to the generous donations of the estates of Jack and Helen Feeney and Dorris Serafini. The old Parish Hall was converted into a new worship space and a new kitchen, parish hall, nursery, choir room, two classrooms, a library and office spaces for the secretary and rector were also added. The first service was held in the new church on October 9, 2000.The original church was retained intact and is used as a chapel for Morning Prayer and special services."