St. John's History

In 1859, Christ Church was organized in the city of Springfield. In 1881, a small but dedicated number of members recognized the need for a second parish in the city. A location was selected, and on March 19, 1886 the organizational meeting was held. A six-member Vestry was elected, a plan for financial support was developed, and application was made for "Certification of Incorporation." The building was completed in 1888 and the first liturgy was celebrated on Sept. 23 with 123 communicant members present.  

On May 1st, 1978, St. John's Episcopal Church was presented a plaque designating the church to be an historical site.

Today, more than one hundred and twenty years after its founding, this parish continues to fulfill the vision of our earliest members. We trust they rejoice with us in the spreading of the Gospel over the years.

We wish to expand our mission to the people of Springfield and surrounding communities, being faithful to the principles of traditional  Anglo-Catholic doctrine lived in the context of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The clergy are always ready to answer questions about the Diocese of West Missouri or the Episcopal Church.

The library maintains a historic postcard collection of Springfield landmarks on their web site, and St. John's is mentioned: The Springfield Library.

The Founding of the Parish - First Rector Called - The Church Built

In 1881, the Rector of Christ Church, The Rev. Octavious Parker, initiated activity to establish a new parish in North Springfield, then a separate town. Christ Church was too far for many North Springfield residents to attend services on a regular basis, so Rev. Parker decided to take the Church to the people. He bought a lot on the corner of Boonville and Park Street from the Ozark Land Co. for $50.00 and was given the adjoining lot at no charge.

Rev. Parker started a Sunday School, and occasional services were held (although at what location is not known). Rev. Parker was succeeded by The Rev. William Page Case, but no regular activity is recorded until The Rev. W. H. Osborne became Rector of Christ Church. It was determined that there were sufficient communicants living in North Springfield to warrant organizing a new parish. Accordingly after Evening Prayer, conducted by Rev. Osborne, the first meeting was held on Monday night, March 29, 1886, at Good Templar's Hall on Commercial Street. At this meeting the Canonical Articles of Association were drawn up and a Vestry consisting of the following persons was elected: George Twigger (Senior Warden), A. W. Ollis (Junior Warden), and Vestrymen B. F. Hobart, T. K. Johnson, E. B. Loveland, and William Marshall. In addition, the following persons signed the Articles of Association: C. P. Ollis, Frank B. Smith, E. C. Holliday, A. C. Kilham, George Twigger, John Twigger, Mrs. F. B. Smith, Mrs. T. K. Johnson, Ann Twigger, Sarah Twigger, Mrs. W. Haverman, Miss M. A. Ollis, Miss Ida L. Moore, Miss F. E. Loveland, and Miss Jeanette Haverman.

On May 26, 1886, the Parish was admitted into the union of the Council of the Diocese of Missouri, and at a meeting of the Vestry on May 31, a call was made to The Rev. Melville M. Moore, the Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Nashville, Tennessee. Rev. More was a confederate veteran of the Civil war, a widower and father of a young son, Melville Jr.

Rev. Moore visited the Parish and held the first service of the Parish on Trinity Sunday, June 20, 1886 in the Wall Building on Commercial Street. The following is a description of that first service, found in the Minute Book and written by the Senior Warden. "The fist service of St. John's Parish was held Sunday Morning, June 20, '86. Morning Prayer, Sermon and Holy Communion. Thirty-two persons present. Services also in the evening, with seventy-six present. Rev. M. M. Moore, Rector-Elect, officiating. Chancel platform was arranged. Rude Altar (dry goods box) and Lectern constructed, neatly covered with white cloth, and tastefully decorated with vines, leaves, etc. The services were heartily enjoyed, and much is hoped from this small beginning."

The Rector-Elect accepted the call and returned to the Parish on August 7, and the first regular service was held the next day, the Seventh Sunday after Trinity. The service was held in the Merriman Building, corner of Commercial and Robberson, which had been neatly prepared for services. A small walnut Altar, Lectern, Desk and Stall were presented to the Parish by the Ladies Social Club of North Springfield, many of whose members were parishioners.

On August 25, 1886, the Vestry wrote a letter to Christ Church requesting that the two lots on Booneville be given to St. John's Church, since they had been originally acquired as a site for a new parish in North Springfield.

The Vestry of Christ Church was not in favor of this and after the exchange of several letters, it was finally agreed to submit claims by each Church to the Chancellor of the Diocese of Missouri to adjudicate the title to the lots. His decision was that the lots should be given to St John's Church, and this was done.

The year 1886 also marked the beginning of a building fund. It was decided that the property on Booneville was not favorably located due to the commercial development in the area, so it was sold by the Parish for $1,825.00. That money was applied to the purchase of two lots on the corner of Benton Ave. and Division Street, #7 and #8 in Block 2 of Franklin Square, City of North Springfield. The lots were purchased for $3,000.00 from Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Sprinkle. They were paid for and the deed was filed May 18, 1887.

One of the first needs of the new Church was a set of proper sacred vessels. Contributions of gold, Silver and jewels were requested. On February 10, 1887, Rev. Melville M. Moore wrote, "On the 1st inst., the contributions of our new Communion Service were sent by express to R. Geissler and Co., New York City. The contributors to the service are as follows: Of silver, Mrs. Haverman, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Taggert, Mrs. Geo. Twigger, Mrs. Ollis, Mrs. Bartlett, Mrs. A. W. Ollis, Mrs. Powell, Mrs. Benson, Mrs. Wrightman, Mrs. Ferguson, Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Watson; of silver and gold, Mrs. Burden, Mrs. Frank Smith, Mrs. Henry Bennett, Mr. Moore. Of gold, Mrs. Beacon, Mrs. Doan, Miss Ollis, Miss Regan gave a topaz, Mrs. Frank Smith a carbuncle, Mrs. Hobart a number of garnets, and Mr. Moore two amethysts. The topaz and carbuncle are of good size, the other jewels are small... Aside from the beauty and richness of this Communion service, when in use will be inexpressible sacred to many of the contributors, for some of the relics represent the heart life of long ago, the tender thoughts that cluster around precious forms now in Paradise, the love that grows stronger the nearer the other shore is reached and the longing joy of the hopes of a joyful meeting with those loved long since, and lost awhile." (The chalice with jeweled settings is still the most valuable piece in our Communion service and used today on special occasions.)

At the newly organized Vestry for 1887, Mr. A. W. Ollis was appointed Senior Warden, a position he held for at least seven years.

The building fund campaign got under way in late 1886, and got a boost in December from B. F. Hobart, who had been one of the original Vestrymen but who then lived in St. Louis. He made a promise to give $1.00 for every $3.00 raised for the building fund, the offer not to extend beyond July 1887. He also started it off with a gift of $1,200.00, and to help reach the goal near the end of the campaign, he gave an additional $250.00.

With the building fund campaign under way, various plans for a church building were submitted. The plans submitted by Messrs. Tully & Clark of St. Louis were adopted, Mr. Kivas Tully being the architect. A contract for the building was made with J. B. Lidley & Sons, St. Louis, the price being $5,425.00. The lots were 137 feet on Benton Ave. and 214 feet on Division Street. The Building was planned for the rear of the lot with ample room for a future large church and rectory facing Benton Ave. The Rector and Messrs. A. W. Ollis and F. B. Smith were appointed a building committee and the foundation of the Church was laid in November, 1887. Mr. A. M. Lapham donated the Carthage stone used for the walls.

Because the Parish was asked to relinquish the service room in the Merriman Building, services were being held in an upstairs room over the Bank of Springfield at the corner of Commercial and North Jefferson. While waiting for the room to be vacated, services were held in a storeroom at 109 Commercial Street, from which a butcher had vacated. The space was loaned by Mrs. A. W. Carey.

The Ladies' Society was established on September 6, 1886, and St. Margaret's Guild was organized in July, 1887. Aside from subscriptions for parish and building expenses, the Ladies' Society bore the burden of meeting the other expenses of the Parish. The young ladies of St. Margaret's Guild did many good works, but chiefly they maintained "one of the most beautiful Altars in the Diocese."

When the initial building fund drive ended in July, 1887, under the terms of Mr. Hobart's offer of $1.00 for every $3.00 raised, the fund had received $8,229.81, and $8,231.45 was spent for the building, land, equipment, etc.

In 1888, Rev. Moore was secretary of the annual Diocesan Convention in St. Louis and he made a lengthy presentation in support of creating a second Diocese in Missouri to better serve the rapid growth of the Church. At the May 1889 convention, the proposal was approved, and the Diocese of West Missouri (first called the Diocese of Kansas City) was established incorporating the western half of the state. Rev. Moore had urged that the seat of the new Diocese be in Springfield, but the decision was made that it should be in Kansas City, a more populous area.

The new building for St. John's Church was completed in 1888. It was build in the late English-Gothic style using quarry-faced limestone and timber with overhanging eaves and a large entranceway on the front. The roof, copies from that of William Rupert in Westminster Hall, London, England, is supported by open timber hammer-beam trusses. The woodwork throughout the interior is almost entirely of Georgia yellow pine. The pine wainscoting is four feet high, and above the walls are sand-finished plaster, colored in distemper.

The furnishings are of polished oak in Gothic style. The altar is of highly polished oak. In the nave, the seats, capacity 210, are place at the sides with a six-foot center aisle. The nave is separated from the chancel by a graceful chancel arch. Within the chancel the choir and the sanctuary are separated by a polished walnut altar rail on bronzed iron standards.

All the windows are of richly colored mosaic, cathedral glass. The Rose Window is remarkable in that it was the only window of the Gothic type in an Episcopal church in the midwest, and was the only true Rose Window west of the Atlantic seaboard. It has a central medallion with eight petals and eight trefoils. It has a central motif in letters of blood red-ruby, holding the cross of Christ and "JHF", Jesus Hominum Falzatum, the earliest symbols of the Christian Church, first found inscribed on the walls of the catacombs at Rome. The glasses in the windows are of pure, fadeless stained glass, non-painted and mark a period at the close of the 19th century when the first of such glass was made in America. The sacristy opens from the sanctuary and contains a handsome stone and oak mantel, the fireplace being the room's only heat source.

On Sunday, September 23, 1888, the first services were held in the new Church. The Rector, Rev. M. M. Moore, opened the day with an early Holy Communion administered to a large number of communicants. At 11:00, the Church was crowded. The Rev. R. A. Holland, Rector of St. George's Church, St. Louis, preached the sermon without notes in a simple and effective manner. "His sermon was an unusually fine production, unexcelled in beauty and force of thought, in logic and in word painting." The music was well rendered. In the evening the entire service was intoned and Mr. Holland delivered the sermon. Three months later a chapter of the Brotherhood od St. Andrew was organized with A. W. Ollis as Director and most of the male communicants as members.

On April 30, 1889, the centennial anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States was commemorated with special services at which were present the Mayor, members of the Common Council, a lodge of Masons in full regalia and a large congregation. On November 14, 1889, Re. Melville M. Moore married Amelia Ollis. The Rev. Stephen Green came from St. John's Church in St. Louis to solemnize the marriage.

Decade of the 1890's

The First Addition to the Building - Money Problems - Consecration - The Rev. Moore Resigned

By 1892 it was determined that more space was needed. The Brotherhood of St. Andrew had to meet at the Rector's residence or sometimes at The Ollis and Company office on Commercial Street. At a meeting in March, 1892, Mr. A. W. Ollis, who was director of the Brotherhood, volunteered that he and his brother, Charles, would donate the walls of the addition which were estimated to cost $250.00. Actually the walls cost $377.50 but the work was started and by May the walls were up.

The Third Annual Council of the Diocese of West Missouri was held at St. John's Church in May 1892, and the clergy of the Diocese vested in the new room even though there was no roof. When completed, the addition was referred to as the Brotherhood of St. Andrew "Chapter House." It consisted of three rooms: a Parish meeting hall, a Sunday School room, and a small kitchen (this is the area currently occupied by the offices, library and sacristy.)

On October 31, 1892, vandals did damage at St. John's Church amounting to about $50.00. A stone hitching post was broken, gates torn away, fence upset, and steps broken.

The panic of 1892 and the depression that followed caused financial difficulties for the Parish in meeting current expenses, mortgage payments, and other costs. The mortgage holder was pressing for the past-due payments and threatening to foreclose. Rev. Moore was determined to raise the needed money, and on June 20, 1893, initiated three major appeals. The first one was an appeal to the members of the Parish, pointing out to them that the mortgage holder was threatening to advertise the property for sale on foreclosure. Secondly, Rev Moor sent out 1,500 appeals around the country. To this appeal there were a littler over 500 responses totaling about $700.00. The third appeal was to some 40 rectors of large parishes throughout the country, which generated only 13 replies and $85.00.

As a result of the appeal, Rev. Moore himself contributed the first $25.00 and parishioners donated $1800.00. Women of the Church again came to the rescue. Dinners, bazaars, bake sales, quilting and many other projects helped to raise the additional funds needed to pay off the mortgage. Even the children helped with their gifts of pennies, nickels, and dimes. The drive was successful, and on March 8, 1894, the mortgage of $2300.00 held by Charles D. Matthews was paid. At this same time, North Springfield merged with Springfield and they became one city.

On March 3, 1894, a vested choir of eleven men and fifteen boys sang Evensong for the first time. At this time "The Parish Record" showed 123 communicants and in the eight years of the Parish's life 228 had been registered, 8 of whom had died, 83 had removed and 14 lapsed, 185 baptisms, 133 confirmations, 21 marriages, 44 burials. The Rector had delivered nearly 1,200 sermons and addresses and made over 3,500 calls, not including extra-parochial. The total amount of money raised within and without the Parish for all purposes, as reported in the annual Diocesan journal, was about $28,000.00.

With the indebtedness against the building paid off, the Consecration of St. John’s Church was held on St. Mark’s Day, Wednesday, April 25, 1894. The celebrant was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Tuttle, Bishop of Missouri, and the Consecrator was The Rt. Rev. Dr. Atwill, President of the Diocesan Board of Trustees. Thirteen clergy were present. A low celebration of Holy Communion was held at 6:30am and the Consecration Service was held at 10:30am with the sermon by the Bishop.

On the Feast of the Epiphany, 1895, a Mission was started by the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Sunday School was started in a vacant storeroom on Broad Street, just north of the Frisco tracks. At the first service, seventy-one people were present and the next week sixty-three. A. W. Ollis was the superintendent and men and women of the Parish were the teachers. The first step to advance the Mission was the leasing of a lot on the corner of Division and Broad Streets, a mile west of St. John’s Church. A building fund was started and grew and the lot was purchased and the building erected. Average attendance was fifty pupils. About 1905, the work was discontinued due to changes in the neighborhood and lack of interest in the Parish. The building then stood vacant until it was sold in 1908.

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew and the workers deserve great credit for their hard work in the Mission. Many outstanding citizens of Springfield received their first religious instruction there. Some who attended later became well-known, including Pearl White, and early movie star, Ruben Wood, a four-term congressman, and others.

From the beginning of the Parish, the women were a very active and supporting part of the Church. Through the early years several women’s organizations were established. The Woman’s Auxiliary combined two Parishes, St. John’s Church and Christ Church. Dues were $0.05 a month and they assisted a young man who was studying for the ministry. The two Parishes split the Auxiliary after a while, and the St. John’s Church organization later became the present day Episcopal Church Women, or ECW. Also established in this period were the Daughters of the King in 1896 and the Girls Friendly Society in 1897.

On April 17, 1898, The Rev. Melville M. Moore resigned, as he and Mrs. Moore wished to go to California where they felt the climate would be better for their health. It was with great regret that the Vestry and the Parish accepted the resignation, as both Rev. and Mrs. Moore had contributed so much to the building of St. John’s Church. After Rev. Moore left, Mr. A. W. Ollis served as Layreader and led the worship every Sunday for several months until a new rector accepted a call.

The Rev. Walter S. Trowbridge became Rector of St. John’s Church in the fall of 1898. He was a young, single man, and had no place to live except in a hotel. The vestry felt this was not fair, so in November a room was built in the northeast corner of the Parish room for his study. He agreed to pay $10.00 a month rent as that is what it would have cost in a hotel. He lived in those quarters for almost two years.

From “The Parish Helper”, March 26, 1894: “We ask some of our boys to kindly remember that when they enter the Church it should not be done in a noisy manner. Tread lightly, not as if the House of God were a public building or a saw mill. Parents will kindly read this item to their boys – from 6 to 20 years old!”