History of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

The Beginning

On Sunday morning, October 15, 1809, the Rev. William Lewis Gibson announced from the pulpit that he was resigning as rector of Christ Church.

In hindsight, this development was probably inevitable. Rev. Gibson came from Annapolis, Md., to become the rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, in 1807. At his first meeting with the vestry, he asked them to purchase a white surplice for him.[1] Although the vestry fulfilled his request, it created controversy because a surplice was considered “high church,” which favored the more catholic aspects of worship, in a “low church” like Christ Church, which deemphasized them. The negative reaction among some members of the congregation was intense; Edmund J. Lee, a prominent Alexandrian who was a vestryman and warden, walked out of the church.

Rev. Gibson’s ministry had a promising start. However, gossip began to reach him that he had offended some congregants by speaking too harshly and that his sermons were considered too abrasive. Given his “excitable nature,” he said some unkind things in return and the relationship with his congregation deteriorated. When an exasperated Rev. Gibson announced his resignation, without first informing the vestry, it further aggravated the situation.

On October 20, the vestry met to consider a resolution to confer with Rev. Gibson to resolve any misunderstandings. It failed by one vote, thereby letting the resignation stand. Meanwhile, a group of prominent church members had met to draft a letter in support of Rev. Gibson. Most of the signatories became founders of St. Paul’s three weeks later.[2]

Rev. Gibson was persuaded to write a letter to retract his resignation. On November 8, the vestry met to discuss both the letter in support of Rev. Gibson and his apology. The apology was not accepted and the fallout resulted in the formation of a new congregation under his leadership. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was officially established on November 9, 1809. On November 11, a small notice appeared in the Alexandria Gazette advising that “The Reverend Mr. Gibson will commence preaching to-morrow morning at 11 o’clock, in the Independent Meeting House in Fairfax Street.”

The first vestry of St. Paul’s was elected on January 23, 1810: Mark Butts, John Hooff, Lawrence Hooff (chief warden), Nathaniel C. Hunter, Daniel McLean, Thomas Moore, Augustine Newton, James B. Nickolls, Charles Page, Thomas West Peyton, Joseph Thomas, and John Young.[3]

The building where the congregation worshipped was on South Fairfax St., between Duke and Prince Streets. It was purchased by Daniel McLean in July 1810 and given to the church in December 1813. In return, the vestries and wardens “shall forever hereafter provide the said Daniel McLean and his heirs…with such Pew in the said Church as he or they shall select and permit him and them to occupy the same without any charge or contribution for the use thereof.”[4] This privilege conveyed to the new church building in 1818 and a silver plaque now commemorates the McLean family pew.

The Rev. William Holland Wilmer was St. Paul’s second rector from 1812 to 1827. Under his leadership, St. Paul’s grew and prospered so quickly that another building was needed to accommodate the larger congregation. He retained renowned architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe to design plans for a new building. Latrobe was known to Rev. Wilmer when he designed St. John’s Church of Lafayette Square and Rev. Wilmer briefly served simultaneously as rector of both St. Paul’s and St. John’s. Latrobe designed both the interior and exterior of St. Paul’s, although the relationship suffered due to disagreements over the construction and changes the builder made to Latrobe’s design. The cornerstone for St. Paul’s was laid on June 21, 1817, by the Masons of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge #22.

Rev. Wilmer’s impact on Alexandria, St. Paul’s, and the Episcopal Church cannot be overstated. His most lasting achievement is his role in the founding of the Virginia Theological Seminary, when a small group of 14 men met in the parish building of St. Paul’s on October 15, 1823. Rev. Wilmer remained affiliated with the Seminary until he left Alexandria for Williamsburg in October 1826, where he became president of the College of William and Mary and rector of Bruton Parish. He died in Williamsburg on July 24, 1827. Had he not died at the age of 45, he almost certainly would have been elected bishop of Virginia after Richard Channing Moore.

Rectors following Rev. Wilmer left their imprint on St. Paul’s in different ways. Rev. William Jackson succeeded Rev. Wilmer; a native of England, he was considered a great evangelical minister. Under his leadership, Sunday School attendance grew rapidly. He also made it his mission to call on every St. Paul’s family in Alexandria. Rev. James Johnston was popularly known as Parson Johnston and he carried on Rev. Jackson’s missionary work of the Sunday School. He served as rector until 1859, resigning due to ill health.

The longest-serving rector was Rev. George Hatley Norton, who came to St. Paul’s in 1859, and whose tenure was interrupted by the Civil War. Shortly after the start of the war in 1861, he volunteered his service as chaplain to the 17^th Regiment of Virginia. He did not serve in the field because of his health and took temporary charge of Grace Church in Lexington, Va.

Nearly all of Alexandria’s churches were closed in May 1861 when the town was occupied by the Union Army.[5] One notorious event of the war took place at St. Paul’s on February 9, 1862. Rev. Kensey Johns Stewart had been leading the church services, first in various halls around town, and later, back on church property. Rev. Stewart had been deliberately omitting the political prayers, including the prayer for the president, from the service. Rev. Stewart was arrested during the service by Union Army soldiers on February 9 for omitting the prayer for the president. He was escorted out of the church at gunpoint, amid the chaos created by his arrest.

Following this episode, the church was closed and later seized by the federal authorities in June 1862 to be used as a hospital. A more detailed description of the Civil War period at St. Paul’s and the events of February 9, 1862, can be found in The History of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Virginia, November 12, 1809–November 12, 1984, by Ruth Lincoln Kaye. A contemporaneous account of the incident was reported in The Local News on February 10, 1862.[6]

The Building

Since the construction of St. Paul’s in 1817-1818, there have been no alterations to Latrobe’s exterior design. The vestry spent $600 after the Civil War to repair and restore the interior for the congregation’s use. Rev. Peter Parker Phillips, the rector who succeeded Rev. Norton, supervised a major change to the sanctuary in 1906, when the shallow chancel of Latrobe’s original interior design was replaced with a recessed chancel.

There were 27 windows when the church was built and the placing of stained-glass windows began in 1872. By 1878 the Ladies’ Sewing and Mite Society paid for all the clear glass in the original 27 windows to be replaced with stained glass. Of particular note are the large Catherine wheel window that was installed on the east wall of the chancel and the memorial windows on the north and south walls. One memorial window was crafted by Rudolph Geissler and two by Henry Lee Willet; both artists’ works can be found in churches around the country.

A modern-day change to the interior is the addition of a small chapel called “The Chapel of the Good Shepherd” in 1977. The name commemorates the mission church that was sponsored by St. Paul’s at the corner of Fairfax and Franklin Streets. In one corner of the Chapel is a small, very old fireplace that was moved from its original location in the first vestry room when the chancel was recessed in 1906. The Chapel features a beautiful stained-glass window dedicated to the memory of a great-great-great-grandson of founder Daniel McLean. The window was executed by artisan Rowan LeCompte in 1981.