A Short History of Emmanuel Parish

Contributed by Charles Beaumont

On April 2, 1843 William Bacon Stevens, our first rector, began regular services of the newly organized congregation of about fifty souls, in the Town Hall. The year before he and Bishop Stephen Elliott, who had been named the first Bishop of the newly created Diocese of Georgia only two years earlier, visited Athens to meet Elizabeth Stockton Moore and her husband, Dr. Richard Dudley Moore, the lay leaders wishing to found the church. Bishop Elliott used a table in Mrs. Moore's parlor for a Communion Service. That table is now the altar of the Founders Chapel in the North Transept.

The Founder's Chapel is located in the North Transept of the present day Emmanuel Church. The Chapel altar was used as the communion table in services in 1843.

A white clapboard New England style church with steeple was completed within the year at the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton streets. The first service there was on Nov. 19, 1843. Between 1876 and 1879 the simple lines of the interior were altered to suit the Victorian gothic style.

	The New England style church was completed in 1843. The print has deteriorated and the steeple is obscured.
	The interior of the New England style church after the 1879 alterations.

Its altar and Christus Rex window are now in the present church. The window is over the High Altar; the altar is in the St. Matthew Chapel in the South Transept.

	First installed in the old church at the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton streets in 1873, this window was moved to the present church when it was built in the late 1890s. The window was the gift of the children of the Sunday School. A complete description of all the stained Glass windows is available as part of the photgraphic tour of the church
	St. Matthew Chapel is located in the South transept of the present day Emmanuel Church. The Chapel altar was the altar in the New England style church at the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton streets.

This building was razed in the autumn of 1891. Some of its timbers were used to build a temporary chapel on the rear of the new site on the corner of Prince Avenue at Pope Street. Under the generous leadership of Robert L. Bloomfield, the walls of the new building rose, of granite which his ox carts had hauled from Elberton. The move decreased the size of the congregation; construction ceased when the walls were about half way up. Finally with the arrival of Troy Beatty as rector in 1897 and the appointment of Thomas H. Nickerson as Treasurer, they and Mr. Bloomfield led the work to completion. The first service was held in it October 15, 1899. The effort had been long, arduous, and often discouraging. When it was time to put the roof on, there was no money for the slate. The ladies of the church held annually their Home Harvest, a week-long, out-door bazaar, to raise money for the poor and for the church. During the winter of 1855-56 they had, for example, distributed more than $2,076 in cash, clothing, and provisions. In that bleak need for the roof in 1898 only they had any money in hand, but they had raised their money to buy the carpet for the new church. Prevailed upon with great energy to give the money for the roof, they did so, reasoning, as one member has recorded, 'There's no need for a fine carpet where there is no roof.' The story indicates something of the struggle to complete this large church with seating for about 400, built by a very small congregation. Their faith and optimism have borne fruit.

	The temporary chapel which was built on the rear of the new site on the corner of Prince Avenue at Pope Street.
	Oxen belonging to Robert L. Bloomfield, hauling stone for the building of Emmanuel Church in the 1890's.
	Emmanuel in 1899 before the addition of the Bloomfield Tower.
	The interior of Emmanuel circa 1899. Note the Emmanuel window over the high altar.

As the congregation grew, the land behind the present nave was purchased. A rectory was built about where the rector's office now is. Mr. Beatty and his family moved into the new rectory just in time for Christmas in 1906. The removal of the temporary chapel left no place for Church School. Where the present Education Building now stands, the Old Parish House was built. It was dedicated the first Sunday in Advent, 1911. Its years of service came to a fiery end on Easter Day, 1978, when it burned to a shell of charred brick. It was replaced by the present building in 1980.

	The new Rectory (left) was occupied for the first time around Christmas of 1906. This photo was taken many years later and clearly shows the line of new masonry added in 1924 and the face of the cornerstone moved at the time of the addition.
	A view from across Prince Avenue showing Emmanuel and the Rectory.
	The Old Parish House was completed in 1911. It faced Pope Street.
	The burned out shell of the Old Parish House. Easter Day 1978.

In 1924 the rear wall of the church, then approximately where the present altar rail is, was extended so as to extend the chancel to its present depth. The rooms to each side, where the mail room is on one side and the Sacristy on the other, were created. The new, present altar and reredos and surround of Caen stone were installed. The altar is in memory of Mr. Beatty. This new rear wall is the long wall of hall in the church office section at the rear of the High Altar. The original cornerstone of the church was reused and relocated into the Pope Street corner of this new wall and can be seen partially revealed in the Wilkins Porch to the Church Offices.

The present Parish Hall, the middle building of the three, was built in 1962. The Guild of St. Francis, gardening parishioners, was begun in 1974. The Guild created the St. Francis Garden in 1980 and the All Saints Terrace in 1987, with substantial help from the Architectural and Memorials Committee.

	The Guild of St. Francis at Emmanuel was founded in 1974 by Peggy Banner Allen. The Guild has assisted in the creation of many beautiful gardens surrounding the church.
	This picture of All Saints Terrace was taken in the summer of the year 2000.

Emmanuel colonized St. Gregory the Great, Athens, in 1981. It is now a thriving parish of 250 communicants.

Emmanuel Church has founded or help found with seed money and parishioners' labor several successful local charitable organizations. Among these are the Ark (a consortium of over 30 congregations to aid the needy, staffed by a professional director (co-founder Laura MacArthur, a member of Emmanuel) and trained volunteers to screen and evaluate the human needs); Aids, Athens (now Aids Coalition of Northeast Georgia); Hospice, (now St. Mary's Hospital Hospice) first directed by Marian Peacock, a member of Emmanuel; Athens Tutorial Program (trained volunteers helping school children with their homework and building their self-confidence); Our Daily Bread (a collection of congregations which feed about 100 needy people a hot meal at noon five days a week, with food bought by the volunteer cooks and prepared and served by them in Oconee Street Methodist Church. Two teams of cooks a month go from Emmanuel).

From modest beginnings as a 'Mothers' Morning Out,' Emmanuel Day School was founded in 1985 and is a certified school for young children.

Continuing the Home Harvest tradition of the 19th century, some ladies of the church in 1950 founded the Episcopal Thrift House, which continues to sell donated items at low prices, with most of the proceeds beyond expenses given to worthy local and foreign service groups. In 1999 they gave away over $25,000.

Emmanuel Church helped to build the Edith Joelson Center, a Montessori school in Limonade, at St. Stephen's Church, a mission of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Cap Haitien. Fr. Jean Monique Bruno was rector of both churches when he built the Joelson Center. The Bishop of Haiti consecrated the Center on Pentecost, 1991. Fr. Bruno been succeeded by Fr. Panel Marc Guerrier. Both priests visit Emmanuel Parish every few years. Emmanuel continues to support the work in North Haiti by funding student scholarships.

	The Episcopal Church of St. Etienne at Limonade, North Haiti. The school is to the right of the Church.
	A picture of the Edith Joelson gate is shown on the left. The gate marks the entrance to the Joelson Center. The Haitian artisan was not familiar with Edith's Star of David but he did his best.

Since 1843, Emmanuel Church has had twenty-one rectors. The total tenures of seven of these builders and sustsainers of this congregation add up to slightly over a century: Matthew Henderson, 16 years, beginning in 1856; J. C. Davis, 12 years, from 1881; Troy Beatty, 19 years, from 1897; Glenn Richards, 13 years, from 1917; David Cady Wright, 15 years, from 1933; Earl Gilbreath, 19 years, from 1949; Franklin Ferguson, 14 years, from 1974. Mr. Henderson led the small congregation through the Civil War years. Mr. Davis was rector during the transition from the Old Church to the present site. Mr. Beatty's vigorous leadership renewed construction to complete the present building. Robert Salamone is our twenty-first Rector.

Matthew H. Henderson, D.D. Rector 1856 - 1872	J. C. Davis Rector 1881 - 1893	Troy Beatty Rector 1897 - 1916

Albert Glenn Richards Rector 1917 - 1930	David Cady Wright Rector 1933 - 1947	J. Earl Gilbreath Rector 1948 - 1968

Franklin Ferguson Rector 1974 - 1988	Robert Salamone Rector 2006 -