75th Anniversary History
1889
First Building Purchased
On October 22, 1889, the Church Missionary Society of St. Paul purchased the building formerly occupied by St. Mark's Reformed Episcopal Church, located on the corner of Portland and Dale, for the sum of two hundred dollars. On December 28, 1889, two lots on Fuller Street west of Kent were secured by The Rev. C. Edgar Haupt, to be held in trust for the parish of The Messiah when organized. On January l, 1890 the said building was moved to the lots on Fuller Street.
A meeting was held on January 5, 1890 to organise a Sunday School.
1890
First Service
The building was formally opened for divine service and named "The Chapel of The Messiah" by The Rt. Rev. M. N. Gilbert, D.D., assisted by The Rev. Charles D. Andrews, The Rev. John Wright and The Rev. C. E. Haupt on January 19, 1890. Regular services were maintained thereafter by George S. Keifer, Lay Reader.
First Baptism
The first baptism was on March 9, 1890. Baptised were Roy and Byron Morgan and Harold Craig, with the Rev. C. Edgar Haupt officiating. The first Confirmation Class was presented on May 4, 1890.
First Minister
On June 8, 1890, The Rev. C. Edgar Haupt commenced holding services every Sunday as minister-in-charge.
First Bishop's Committee
On July 11, 1890, Bishop Gilbert appointed a Bishop's Committee consisting of W. H. H. Mead, M. N. Kellogg, Frank Osborne, Herbert Sawes and S. J. M. Holland.
In September 1890 an addition was made on the East side of the building at a cost of $500.00.
1891
Organized as a Parish
The mission was organised as a parish on May 7,1891.
First wardens were James A. Cassidy and George H. Sawes, on July 22,1891.
The Parish was incorporated on July 22, 1891.
In the summer of 1891, a fifteen foot addition was added to the chapel for use as a chancel and sanctuary, with a classroom in the basement.
A weekday kindergarten was opened October 13, 1890 and in October, 1891 a home nearby was established for the teachers and a parish visitor.
1892
On July 5, 1892, The Rev. Charles Edgar Haupt was formally called as first Rector of the Parish.
1895
A further addition to the church building was completed January 20, 1895 at a cost of $1,375.
1896
During the summer of 1896 a large house located on the lot west of the church was purchased and a Deaconesses' Home and Training School were established.
1899
Second Rector
October, 1899- The Rev. Henry D. Jones called as Rector.
1901
Money Speaks Louder than Words!
The following items appeared in this order in the minutes of the Annual Parish Meetings April 9, 1901:
- Short speech by vestryman J. Wade showing the necessity of increased weekly pledge offerings.
- Short talk by Junior Warden Conyers to show the necessity of regular systematic giving.
- Short talk by vestryman Fowler showing the necessity of lovalty to our Church.
- Donation of $25.00 by Mr. D. Bradshaw, in place of speech he had been asked to make. Received with applause!
1903
Vestry Minutes - February 7th, 1903
Received letter of resignation from Rector, effective February 20, 1903 (Rector -Rev. H. D. Jones who had served as rector 3-1/2 years).
New Rector welcomed June 8, 1903, The Rev. A. Overton Tarrant, at salary of $900.00 per year.
Rector's letter of resignation (Tarrant) received October 12, 1905.
1906
From June 12th, 1906 vestry minutes:
Letter received from Rev. A. O. Tarrant (former Rector) saying that if we would forward to him $4.10 interest on delayed payment of his salary he would forward and present to the church a beautiful memorial cross. Offer was accepted and cross received, but cross not being up to expectations, the following motion was made and carried: That the secretary notify Mr. Tarrant that owing to the cross not being as represented, St. Margaret's Guild offered a cross more in keeping with the chancel furniture, and that his cross would be placed on the altar in the chapel.
From July 10th, 1906 minutes:
Cross reported returned to Mr. Tarrant at his request.
(Editors note: The above mentioned cross from St. Margaret's Guild is the processional cross which we still use today.)
1906
Special Vestry Metting July 24th, 1906
Letter from the Rector was received giving his consent to the calling of The Rev. L. R. S. Ferguson to be Rector.
(Editor's note: The Rev. Mr. Ferguson was to be Rector for thirty four years, until his retirement in 1940)
1930
The property on Fuller having been sold to Camphor A.M.E. Church, the Church of The Messiah moved to the corner of Juno and Cretin, occupying a white frame chapel purchased from Plymouth Congregational Church.
The Episcopal Church was already well-established in this area, due to the efforts of Mrs. Arthur Goldsmith. For several years "Mother" Goldsmith had conducted a Sunday School class for neighborhood children, which she continued to do for Messiah Church for many years. (Mr. Goldsmith continued as treasurer of our Sunday School until his death in 1959 at the age of 94).
1933
From minutes of Annual Meeting, January 9th, 1933:
- Miss Nan Elmquist reported for the Altar Guild.
- Mrs. Elsie Bergstrom reported on the United Thank Offering.
- Mr. DeGraff Wolff reported as to building fund.
1933
January 26th, 1933
In a letter to Mr. Fred Truax, Commissioner of Parks and Playgrounds, the Vestry gratefully acknowledged receipt of several pieces of furnishings from the old Court House. (Our present chapel altar was received at that time, having originally served for many years as a judge's bench in the Court House.
1934
Annual Meeting, January 8th, 1934
Niles M. Williams elected Senior Warden.
(Editor's note: Mr. Williams served as Senior Warden until 1947. He and his wife are still among our most faithful communicants.)
1940
May 2nd, 1940: Letter of resignation received from the Rev. L. R. So Ferguson.
June, 1940: The Rev. Robert Wolterstorff came to Messiah. Ordained Deacon June 23, 1940.
October, 1940: Parish held its first Every Member Canvas under the direction of its new rector, The Rev. Robert Wolterstorff. Proposed budget for 1941 was $2,500, including the Rector's salary of $1,000.
1940
January 3rd, 1941: St. Paul newspaper item tells of move of The Rev. L.R.S. Ferguson to Black Hills. The article entitled, "Fergy Signs Again For Sky Pilot Job." Excerpts follow:
Lead, S. D., site of the famous Homestake Gold Mine, is getting new bonanza. It's a bonanza in the form of a 6 foot 198 pound, ruddy faced gentleman known sometimes as "Doc", at other times as "Fergy", and occasionally as Rev. L.R.S. Ferguson. Lead's new bonanza is going to bring it wealth, not the wealth of a rich man, but the wealth of a gentle, understanding philosophy, the riches of a fascinating and unique personality, the gold in the character of a good citizen and a good fellow. He is a former St. Paul city councilman, city clerk, and a minister here (St. Paul) for 34 years. The Doc was education commissioner from 1920 to 1930 and city clerk from 1924 to last June.
A former Army chaplain, who in appearance would make a perfect moving picture character of an English Colonial Colonel, he entered the National Guard as a first lieutenant Chaplain of the old First Minnesota regiment in 1908. In 1918 he became senior chaplain of the 39th division.
He reached the rank of colonel in October, 1939, when he was awarded the Minnesota medal of merit for distinguished service. The Doc was rector of the Episcopal Church of The Messiah for 34 years.
The Doc appears to have more clothes than Goering has uniforms. With tweed predominating, the Doc, pipe smoking furiously, often is mistaken for an English duke with a different suit for each cup of tea.
1943
January, 1943: Started our building fund drive with $6.24 from an old account.
1948
Notes from playbill:
The Couples Club of Messiah Episcopal Church presents Messiah Minstrels of 1948, November 18 and 19.
Names still familiar:
Director - Robert Heller
Advertising - Robert Ellison
Publicity - Robert Ivey
Stage & Props - Allan Davis
Tickets - Paul and Val Smith
Stars of Cast and Chorus:
Queenie - Frances Grondahl
Cyclone - Mal Fawcett
Dusty - Max Parslow
From The Chorus:
Edith Harrison, Edith Davis, Val Smith.
1947
The history of our present building
Starting with a building fund of $6.14 in January of 1943, the wardens and vestry of the Messiah Episcopal Church of St. Paul decided on launching a building fund campaign. The original plans were to build the new church on Cleveland Ave. and Niles. Property was purchased, and a down payment was made possible through the sale of the little mission church that was then being occupied on Cretin Ave. and Juno, with the understanding that we would continue to use the old site at a small rental fee until the new building was completed. During the period extending from January 1943 to the summer of 1946 there was a sum of about $36,000., raised through contributions and special gifts. Also during that time, Bishop Keeler decided to make a present to Messiah of three lots that had been given to him on the corner of Ford Road and Macalester, providing our church was built on that location. The Cleveland Ave. property that we had procured was sold at a very good profit; the church getting $10,000 for the property; along with another $3,000 which was gotten from the final settlement for the interest which we had in the old church property which the original Messiah owned on Fuller Avenue, and the sale of some government bonds which had been given to the building fund.
In the spring of '47 it was decided that we would go ahead and build a basement construction, building a basement for the parish house and church which would be joined. Such permission had been given by the Government, as we were still under war-time restrictions at that time. An additional $20,000. was loaned. to the church by the Isabella Cook Revolving Fund. The total cost of the basement construction of the two buildings amounted to $61,000, and the work was completed so that the first service was held on Good Friday, 1948. The work was planned and carried out under the able leadership of Mr. Niles Williams, Senior Warden, and Lewis G. Phillips, Junior Warden, and the Rev. Robert M. Wolterstorff, Rector of the church. During the summer of 1949 the wardens and vestry negotiated the purchase of the 40-foot lot next to the church property which gave the church 160-foot frontage on Ford Road, the purchase price being $2250.
In the fall of 1949 the vestry decided that they were going to make a special drive with the objective in view of paying off the mortgage before January 1, 1950. This objective was accomplished, and at the annual Epiphany Dinner in January, 1950, the mortgage was burned, and a drive started for a building fund to complete the super-structure of the church.
Throughout the early spring, plans were drawn up and submitted to the vestry, and in May, it was decided to go ahead with the construction of both the super- structure of the church and parish house. Contracts were let on January 25th, 1950 cal1ing for an expenditure of $100,000.
When fully completed, the church and the parish house, lands, and church furnishings will have a value of about $200,000, on which there will be an indebtedness left of approximately $63,000, which is covered by a 20-year mortgage.
The building committee was headed by L. Paxton Meeker (who was then Senior Warden, and who had served on the original building committee when the basement construction was undertaken) along with Alvan E. Line, A. W. Banister, Lester Harrison, and The Rev. Robert M. Wolterstorff. The building fund campaign committee was headed by Franklin Briese. While there were a few contributions received from people outside the membership of the church, most of it came from Messiah's own people. The building is very modern, but not modernistic. It is very functional, and will serve its community well. The superstructure has a seating capacity in the church of about 300, with a large auditorium and kitchen in the basement. The parish house has a guild room, chapel, rector's study and parish offices on the first floor with nine Sunday school classrooms on the second floor.
Again the work, as during the first construction period, was carried on under the able supervision and leadership of The Rev. Robert Wolterstorff. Too much praise cannot be given him for the job that he has done in organising and building this parish during his eleven years of priesthood. Starting from a mission with a meagre handful of members, he has built it into one of the finest and most outstanding parishes in the Diocese.
1955
From the January calendar
All members and friends are invited to be present at a Parish Reception, Sunday, January 23, to bid farewell to our Rector and his wife. They leave following the services on January 30 for La Jolla, California, where Father Bob will become Associate Rector of the parish of St. James-by-the-Sea.
From the May calendar
Introducing our new Rector
To introduce your new rector to you, The Rev. S. Barry O'Leary has come to us from Pine Island, Minnesota not as a total stranger, for many of us have met him already. A city parish is not an entirely new experience for The Rev. O'Leary, who officially becomes our rector on May first. Prior to entering seminary, he was an active communicant of St. George's Parish in St. Louis Park, and is well acquainted with the needs and potentialities of the growing parish.
While he had been considering the ministry for many years, Mr. O'Leary took his college work at the University of Minnesota, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, majoring in industrial relations with a minor in personnel psychology. He served as a member of the Board of Governors of Coffman Memorial Union while at the University and also was elected to the Business School Board. He also served as Chairman of the Committee on Special Events, which directed all major social events on the University Campus, including homecoming activities.
At his graduation he received an award as one of the three outstanding graduates in his class for scholarship, leadership, and service to the University. After graduation he spent several years in private business, first in Chicago and later in Minneapolis. His last position was that of department manager and buyer with the Schmitt Music Company of Minneapolis. At that time he was an active member of the Minneapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. O'Leary entered Seabury Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, in 1950, graduating third in his class in June 1953. At seminary he served as president of his class and in his senior year was winner of the "Field Prize For Preaching".
Since graduating from seminary, Rev. O'Leary has been priest-in-charge of the Episcopal Churches in Pine Island, Kasson, and West Concord, Minnesota. He is a member of the Camping Commission of the Diocesan Department of Christian Education and last fall represented the Diocese at the National Town and Country Church Conference in Kansas.
During World War II, Mr. O'Leary served in France and Germany as a combat infantryman.
Rev. O'Leary and his wife, Shirley, were married December 26, 1947. They have a daughter, Lesley, who observed her third birthday April 20th. They are expecting another child in June. The O'Leary's will make their home after June l2th in the parish's new rectory at 660 Howell Avenue.
1958
St Paul Dispatch - Christmas Eve - 1958
LONG FORGOTTEN BELL TO RING ANEW AT SERVICES TONIGHT
This is the story of a bell that first rang out nearly 50 years ago across a Minnesota campus, served daily for close to a quarter-century and then was discarded and almost forgotten for another 25 years. The story has its happy ending, with the beginning of a new term of usefulness for the bell, tonight in St. Paul.
Ringing to summon Christmas eve worshippers to the 11:30 p.m service at Messiah Episcopal Church, Ford Parkway and Macalester, will be a 400 pound brass bell, gift to the church from Dr. Georgiana Palmer, 1640 Scheffer. Dr. Palmer, professor of Latin, Greek and Russian at Macalester College, gave the bell in memory of her parents, the late Dr. and Mrs. Francis L. Palmer, who in 1913 presented it to Seabury Seminary, Faribault, as a memorial to Dr. Palmer's parents, Clara Skeele and William Randall Palmer. At Seabury Episcopal Theological Seminary, the bell hung in the tower of Johnston Hall and called seminarians to chapel. Dr. Francis L. Palmer was a member of the faculty until the school closed in the early thirties and Seabury merged with Western Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.
Forgotten through the years, the Palmer bell belonged for a time to St. Lucas Hospital, Faribault, when the institution purchased the seminary grounds and buildings. In 1953 it was bought by William Schilling of Northfield for his famous collection of bells. There Georgiana Palmer found it three years later and arranged for its purchase.
Brought to St. Paul, the bell was lifted into the tower at Messiah several weeks ago, and workmen completed its installation Monday. "It was like a homecoming for Christmas," says the rector, Rev. Barry O'Leary. The honor for the ringing it for the first time goes to Donald 0. Grohs, junior warden of the parish.
1958
From Messiah calendar
- Messiah's Rector appointed Dean of St Paul Deanery
- New Dean for St Paul
The following letter from Bishop Kellogg was received by our Rector just before Christmas,1958;
Dear Barry,
This letter will confirm, in an official manner, my verbal appointment of you as Dean of the St. Paul Deanery as the successor to the Rev. Lloyd R. Gillmett. I am grateful for your acceptance of this appointment, and I know that you will do an outstanding and eminently superior job for the Deanery and our Diocese.
Most gratefully and sincerely yours,
Hamilton H. Kellogg.
Diocesan and Deanery affairs are not new to our Rector, as he has served in the Diocesan Departments of Christian Education and Publicity and Promotion, in his second year as a member of the Bishop and Council, and was appointed last year as Director of the St. Paul Deanery Commission on Missionary Planning and Strategy.
1961
On September 1st, 1961, just ten years after our present building was dedicated, final payment was made on what was originally to have been a twenty year mortgage. A total mortgage of $90,OOO., plus interest, has been paid in full, making it now possible for our church to be consecrated. (A church building cannot be consecrated until it is totally debt-free.)
On November 5th, 1911 The Rt. Rev. Hamilton H. Kellogg, Bishop of Minnesota, consecrated our church building in a most impressive ceremony. The bulletin for this service contains the following statement, in which we conclude our look at the past, and look confidently toward the future:
Within this House of God
Erected in the Name of the Messiah
Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ
Two hundred eighty-six souls have been reborn into the Kingdom of God through Holy Baptism,
Three hundred ninety-three young people and adults have received the Laying On Of Hands in Confirmation,
Fifty-one couples have made vows of Holy Matrimony,
and
Countless numbers of Christ's "faithful soldiers and servants" have worshipped before this Altar, received the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, offered thanks to God for their many blessings, received the comfort and instruction of God's Holy Word, confessed their sins and received forgiveness, found strength in time of trial, solace in time of grief, and love within the family of their fellow Christians.
On This Day of Consecreation
November 5th, 1961
We pledge that, so long as this building stands, its doors shall be wide open to all who would know God and do His will, - to all who would live and serve to make a Christian world, - to all who seek comfort and would find rest, - to old and young, wise and unlearned, rich and poor, saint and sinner.
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Messiah we welcome all to our Father's house.
