Story and photos submitted by Sandra Provan
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1000 Michigan Ave., LaPorte, is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year with several special events culminating with a dinner for parishioners Oct. 18 and a concert at the church Sunday, Oct. 26. The speaker at the dinner will be 
Bishop Tony Burton, former bishop of Saskatchewan and head of the Prayer Book Society in Canada, now rector of the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas.
Anniversary Chairman Bette Floyd is organizing the events. Parishioner Jean Burns has summarized this history of the parish as part of the celebrations:
St. Paul’s is the third oldest Episcopal Church in the diocese, incorporated on St. James Day, July 25, 1839. However, the history of Episcopalians in LaPorte can be traced back at least as far as 1835. In August of 1837 the first bishop of Indiana, the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, visited LaPorte. In his diary he records the baptism of “Dr. Rose’s sick child at home on August 15, 1837, prior to the evening service in the Court House.” The first recorded baptism was that of 2-year-old Thomas Lafayette Johnson on November 24, 1838.
Rev. S. Thomas Kincaid III
The first rector was Rev. Solon Manney, who served the parish for 10 years. During that time he began a parochial school. He also was head of LaPorte University, from which the Mayo brothers graduated before moving to Rochester, Minnesota, and founding the Mayo Clinic. After leaving LaPorte, Rev. Manney founded what is now Seabury Western Seminary. Unverified, but interesting, an Englishman, the Rev. James Boxer, rector from 1879-81, was rumored to be a ghostwriter for Charles Dickens. The two priests who served St. Paul’s the longest are the Rev. George Childs from 1927-49 and the Rev. B. Linford Eyrick from 1956-92. By 2014 the church has been served by 33 priests, presently by the Rev. S. Thomas Kincaid III.
Early in the 1840s the southeast corner of Indiana and Maple avenues was purchased for a church site. The property was later exchanged for the present location at the corner of Harrison Street and Michigan Avenue and “fifty dollars, half in cash and the balance in hewn timbers suitable for the church frame.” The first church building was constructed in 1846 and consecrated by Bishop Kemper on March 2, 1848. The present Indiana limestone building was built in 1897 and consecrated in 1898. More recently, in 2009, an anonymous gift of $60,000 by a parishioner made it possible to renovate the exterior of the building.
The original rectory dates from 1853. A new rectory of English colonial design was completed in 1964 and given as a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Shick by their children. During the demolition of the old rectory and the building of the new one, Father Eyrick and his family made their temporary home for nearly seven months in the Parish House, with a temporary shower installed in the boiler room.
In 1954 a $1,000 gift started a fund for a new Parish House, which was completed in 1957. In 1959 a new heating system was installed.
In 1963 the church sanctuary and nave were remodeled, including new altar, new pews, and new floor. On Tuesday, January 15, 1963, the new altar was consecrated and blessed by Bishop Mallett. The top of the altar is a piece of golden marble mined in the Holy Land; the 15-foot crucifix is of white oak and carved limba wood; the tabernacle is bronze and oak, flanked by eight bronze candlesticks. The original sanctuary light has since been replaced. New faceted glass windows were dedicated on May 3, 1963, three of which were given in memory of the Rev. George J. Childs, former rector. The windows depict the four evangelists, St. Paul, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the sacraments, and the corporal works of mercy.
Henry Erben built the organ for the original church of 1846. After that building was enlarged in 1869, the organ was sold to St. Peter’s Catholic Church. The Steer and Turner tracker-action organ was purchased in 1871, installed in 1872, moved to the new church in 1897, and electrified in the 1920s. The organ was dismantled and removed in July 1978 to be restored and rededicated on May 20, 1979. Of the $35,000 required to restore the organ, $20,000 was raised by members of the congregation who stuffed advertising supplements in the LaPorte Herald-Argus several hours a week over a period of time. Gifts and memorial donations made up the rest of the funds.
Vestry minutes as well as financial records remain that date back to 1838.
Women’s organizations in the church date back at least to 1897 when it is recorded that the Ladies Aid Society met in the Parish House. They made and sold aprons to raise money for the church. They also held church dinners.
During World War I (1914-18) the women of the church met every two weeks in homes. They paid dues (usually 10 cents) and completed projects, which included raising Lenten dollars, having food sales, making aprons, mending cassocks and copes, and making sheets and pillowcases for a “colored girls’ school.” They also worked with the Red Cross during the flu epidemic even though they were unable to hold meetings.
St. Anne’s Guild, which continues today, is the oldest guild at St. Paul’s. Today St. Anne’s Guild and the Altar Guild are joined by the Flower Guild, which dates from the 1990s, and the Knitting Guild, which dates from 2013. In 1955 the women of the church helped to set up the library with Father Royster’s library as a nucleus. Later Bishop Klein’s scholarly collection was donated, with women of the church cataloging the collection.
Women serve on the vestry, bear the chalice, read the lessons and Prayers of the People, sing in the choir, and serve on the Altar Guild or Flower Guild. In addition they continue to sponsor events for the parish and the community: the Epiphany Tea, Post Lenten Luncheon, Spring Salad Bar, Mardi Gras Festival, Harvest Dinner, and monthly community dinners.
From the beginning men served as the lay representatives of the parish as wardens or members of the vestry with all of the responsibilities required of them by canon law. During the time when Father Childs and Father Pearson were rectors, couples, as well as single men and women, belonged to the Forth Club, which met monthly in the evening to determine future projects and activities. Eventually the Forth Club discontinued to be followed in the 1960s with a Couples’ Club, organized for social get-togethers. Today the men serve on the vestry and at the altar. They sing in the choir, serve as readers or ushers, and continue to help with special projects and building maintenance.
Records are sketchy for Sunday or church school at St. Paul’s; however, minutes of Sunday School from 1867-1870 record the attendance of “scholars present, scholars absent, teachers present, and teachers absent” at their 2 p.m. Sunday sessions. Once thriving with dozens of children, the children’s church school became smaller as the congregation became older and as the membership diminished in the 1990s. Now, however, there is a vital Children’s Church each Sunday, with a growing number of children participating.
A day nursery, one of the first in LaPorte, opened in the fall of 1956 under the direction of Father B. Linford Eyrick and continues to thrive as St. Paul’s Preschool in a church house on Indiana Avenue with an enrollment of 40.
Over the years the church has sponsored both Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and AA groups, has been active in various ways with the local hospital and the Youth Service Bureau, and currently serves a monthly community meal. In 1987 St. Paul’s assumed a parochial mission at Chesterton, now St. Francis Episcopal Church of Chesterton. Once again St. Paul’s offers Vacation Bible School to the children of the community, with 20 children ages 3-10 participating in 2014.
As the congregation celebrates its 175th anniversary, it does so in thanksgiving for God’s work at St. Paul’s.
“We are blessed with a growing, vibrant congregation of Christians, committed to worshipping God, bringing people to a relationship with Jesus Christ, growing in our faith, and caring for one another and our community,” said Fr. Thomas Kincaid. “It’s exciting to see how the missionary heart that lead to this parish’s establishment continues to drive our ministry. We have much to look forward to as the Lord shows more and more of his kingdom breaking in here in LaPorte.”