ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, organized downtown on 26 Oct. 1846, later followed its parishioners' migration to the suburbs. The parish organized at the American House Hotel, with 45 members and Gideon B. Perry as the first rector. Services were held in rented rooms until a frame church was built on the southeast corner of Euclid and Sheriff (E. 4th) streets in 1848. This building burned before completion, and the entire city contributed to the construction of its brick Gothic replacement, opened in 1851 and consecrated in 1858. As the area became more commercial, St. Paul's sold the site and met in temporary quarters until a new church at EUCLID AVE.. and Case (E. 40th) St. was completed in 1876, in time for the first services there on Christmas Eve. Designed by Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit, the Victorian Gothic building was faced in Berea sandstone and could seat 1,000. Sited in the center of the fashionable "Millionaires Row," the church became identified with the district. Several churches started from St. Paul's, including EMMANUEL CHURCH (EPISCOPAL) (1876), St. Philip the Apostle (1894), Christ Church (1909), and Grace Church, South (1869).

By the 1920s, due to population shifts, the vestry elected to move to CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, joining with St. Martin's parish. A new building, designed by the Cleveland firm of WALKER AND WEEKS, was begun at the corner of Fairmount and Coventry roads in 1927. The parish hall was erected in 192728, the 125' tower in 1929, and after many delays and changes the church was completed in 194951. The style is an adaptation of English Gothic idioms. The building has been twice enlarged since 1951. A pre-school wing was added in the mid-1950s and the 6,000 sq. ft. South Wing was completed in 1991. In addition, St. Paul's renovated and remodelled the Parish Hall and named it Tucker Hall in 1983, in honor of the Right Rev. BEVERLY D. TUCKER†, Bishop of Ohio in the 1930s and 1940s. The downtown building was sold in 1931 to the Cleveland Catholic Diocese and rededicated as St. Paul's Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. Several noted clergy have served the parish, including Dr. WALTER R. BREED†, Dr. Theodore H. Evans, and Dr. Chave McCracken. Additionally, 2 curators of music at the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART have served as organist/choirmaster: WALTER BLODGETT† and Karel Paukert. In 1995 the 2,200 member congregation was served by Rector Nicholson B. White. St. Paul's will observe its 150th anniversary in 1996 with a year-long series of special observances and projects.

Jarvis, F. Washington. St. Paul's Cleveland, 1846-1968 (1968).

St. Paul's Episcopal Church Records, WRHS.

See also RELIGION, EPISCOPALIANS.

Related Article(s)

• RELIGION
• ARCHITECTURE

Related Link(s)

• St. Pauls Episcopal Church