Trinity Episcopal Church is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

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 6 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Province VI. Its offices are in Des Moines, ...

. The church is located in

Muscatine, Iowa Muscatine ( ) is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,797 at the time of the 2020 census, an increase from 22,697 in 2000. The county seat of Muscatine County, it is located along the Mississippi River. The lo ...

, United States. It was individually 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 1974. In 2006 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Downtown Commercial Historic District.

History

Development of the Episcopal Church in Muscatine

The Episcopal Church in Muscatine can trace its roots to the arrival of Matthew Matthews, his son Dorrance, and his brothers Hiram and Joseph, and their families in 1839 when the town was named Bloomington. They were visited by the Rt. Rev.

Jackson Kemper Jackson Kemper (December 24, 1789 – May 24, 1870) in 1835 became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Especially known for his work with Native American peoples, he also founded parishes in wha ...

, Missionary Bishop of the Northwest, the same year and the congregation was organized. It is the first Episcopal parish organized in Iowa. with The next year when Bishop Kemper visited he reports the church had seven communicants and timber for the construction of a church building. The bishop contributed $100 towards its construction. The church was a frame building that measured , and was one and three-fourths stories high. It had eight windows, fifteen lights, and a small vestry room. When Trinity was not using the building the Presbyterian Congregation held services in the building. A bell was mounted on the vestry room and it was utilized by both congregations. The

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

completed a second story on the building and occupied that part of the building. Bishop Kemper was opposed to the Masons presence in the building and refused to consecrate the church. This was the first church of any denomination built in Muscatine County, and the first Episcopal Church in Iowa. The church had no

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

initially and was visited by the Rev. Zachariah Goldsmith from Trinity Church in Davenport. On June 28, 1842, the church was reorganized at a meeting with fourteen people present. The Rev. Samuel Sherwell, a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, was placed in charge of the church on May 12, 1843.

Present church

The Rev. John B. Calhoun, who came to Trinity in 1850, asked parishioners to subscribe towards a new church building. In the spring of 1851, sixteen members subscribed $1,250. He was sent east to collect more subscriptions and he collected a further $1,298.50 from one hundred and sixty-eight people. Frank Will, an architect from

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 ...

, was chosen to design the new church. The new church was built on the same lot as the old church. The basement and foundations were built in the fall of 1851 and the cornerstone was laid on November 11. Construction on the church took three years. It is built of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. Bishop Kemper came to Muscatine to consecrate the new church on May 25, 1854. He was assisted by the Rev. John Ufford. The building was enlarged in 1855, and it was given its cruciform plan at that time. A bell was placed in the

bell-cote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

in 1856. The present interior oak furnishings, including an altar, pulpit, lectern, choir stalls, and pews, were installed in 1887 when the Reverend E.C. Paget was the

. The stained glass windows in the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

s were added at the same time. The Ascension window at the end of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was installed in 1896.

Diocese of Iowa

The Diocese of Iowa was organized by Bishop Kemper in 1853. He invited the clergy and representatives of the various congregations of the state to a meeting at Trinity Church in Muscatine on August 17. In the absence of the bishop the Rev. Alfred Louderbeck of Trinity Church in Davenport was elected the chairman. At this gathering, the constitutions and canons for the new diocese were adopted, and plans were made for the election of a bishop. On October 18, 1854, Rev.

Henry Washington Lee Henry Washington Lee (July 29, 1815 – September 26, 1874) was a 19th-century bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He served as the first Bishop of Iowa from 1854–1874. He also served as Provisional Bisho ...

, rector of St. Luke's Church in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

was elected bishop at Trinity Church in Davenport. The Diocese of Iowa began participating in Education in Ministry in 1989. It is a theological extension program of the School of Theology of the

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

. Trinity and St. Paul's Indian Mission in

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

were the original centers for the people of Iowa to gather for the program.

Storm damage

Lightning struck the church during an early morning thunderstorm on August 9, 2010. Significant damage was done to the bell-cote on the front of the church and an iron cross on top.

References

External links

Trinity’s Website
{{NRHP in Muscatine County, Iowa Religious organizations established in 1839 Churches completed in 1854 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in Iowa Episcopal church buildings in Iowa Churches in Muscatine County, Iowa Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Muscatine County, Iowa 1839 establishments in Iowa Territory Buildings and structures in Muscatine, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa