The Episcopal Church of the Saviour, also known as Memorial Episcopal Church, is a parish church in the

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 ...

. The church is located in

Clermont, Iowa Clermont is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 586 at the 2020 census. Clermont is home to Montauk, the mansion of former Iowa governor William Larrabee, along with much historic architecture. Scenes for the movie ...

, United States. The church building, along with the statue of David Henderson, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2000.

Church of the Saviour

The parish was established as the Free Episcopal Mission Church in 1866. The church was built ten years later and it was consecrated by Bishop Henry Washington Lee on December 16, 1870. It is one of three Episcopal churches that were built as a memorial to the two children of Frances Dyer Vinton of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. The other two churches were built in Providence, and in

San Gabriel, California San Gabriel (Spanish for " St. Gabriel") is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the population was 39,718. San Gabriel was founded by the Spanish in 1771, when Mission San Gabriel Arc ...

. She had been inspired by the Biblical passage "Thy praise shall ring from shore to shore," to build a church in the east, west, and in middle of the country. with They were all named "Church of the Saviour." Clermont was chosen because of Vinton's association with Dr. William Lewis who was serving as a captain in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

when they met. The Lewis home was bequeathed to the church for use as a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

. The church in Providence closed in 1950 and has been torn down and the church in San Gabriel has been significantly altered over the years.

Architecture

The church building was built of Iowa

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

that was quarried from the Williams Quarry east of Clermont. The architect is unknown, but the stone masonry reflects the work of a master builder. It is a combination of the Romanesque and

Italian Villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...

styles that reflect the romantic and picturesque qualities of mid-19th century architecture. The church building features a three-story tower, bracted

eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

s, and attached round arch windows. In 1930 a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof replaced the cedar shingles that had been put on in 1903. The interior features a

barrel-vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed ceiling, beaded wainscoting, and varnished hardwood pews. The altar and cross were given to the church from the Trinity Church Guild of

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...

. It was given in recognition of the work of Mrs. William Larrabee, Jr., a daughter-in-law of former governor of Iowa William Larrabee.

David Henderson Statue

David B. Henderson David Bremner Henderson (March 14, 1840 – February 25, 1906), a ten-term Republican congressman from Dubuque, Iowa, was the speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1899 to 1903. He was the first congressman from west of ...

was a member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1882 to 1902. He represented the people of

Iowa's 3rd congressional district Iowa's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its southwestern quadrant, which roughly consists of an area stretching from Des Moines to the borders with Nebraska and Missouri. From 2013 to ...

. From 1899 to 1903 he served as

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article One ...

. Congressman Henderson was the first Speaker of the House west of the Mississippi. Iowa Governor William Larrabee had the statue made and presented to the city of Clermont in his honor. It was designed by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

sculpture John Massey Rhind, and cast by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company of New York. The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

statue stands tall on its original

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

pedestal. The statue was initially located in the center of Mill Street, and it was dedicated June 19–20, 1903 during a reunion of the

12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 12th Iowa Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. History The 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry was organized at Dubuque in October and November 1861, and was mustered in at inter ...

to which Henderson had belonged. The statue was relocated to the church yard in 1937, which compromises its historical integrity. However, it remains an important work of art by a significant 19th-century Scottish-American artist.

References

External links

Church Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Episcopal Church Of The Saviour, Clermont, Iowa Churches completed in 1867 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Romanesque Revival church buildings in Iowa Episcopal church buildings in Iowa Churches in Fayette County, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Religious organizations established in 1867 Monuments and memorials in Iowa 1867 establishments in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Fayette County, Iowa