St. Andrew's Celebrating 150-Year Existence

PIONEERS' CHURCH —

Back when Ann Arbor was a tiny village on the Midwestern frontier, Episcopalians of the area put up this house of worship. It was begun in 1836, nine years after the parish was founded, and was replaced by the present St. Andrew’s in 1869. St. Andrew’s is the second oldest Episcopal parish in Michigan.

St. Andrew’s Celebrating 150-Year Existence

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church of Ann Arbor has launched a year-long celebration of its 150 years in the community with a schedule of special programs and a drive for $150,000 that will include restoration and renewal of its historic buildings on North Division Street.

Plans for the series of monthly events during the parish’s sesquicentennial include a communion service with the liturgy, vestments and music used 150 years ago; speaking appearances by the former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, by a longtime rector, by a former chaplain at the University of Michigan who is now bishop of Ohio, and by the abbot of an Episcopal Benedictine abbey; and presentation of a music-and-dance event and the play "Samson Agonistes”.

“The fund drive among parishioners and friends of St. Andrew's is aimed at conserving and maintaining the historic structures handed this generation by our forebears, and to ensure the continuance and spread of community service in years to come,” said the Rev. Gordon B. Jones, rector.

“We have been given a priceless heritage and we wish to pass it on intact. The sesquicentennial is an appropriate forum to ensure this."

St. Andrew’s main church building, built in 1867-69 in early English Gothic, is considered an excellent example of the style as it was executed in Victorian times. The City Council, has declared it and the attached bell tower a part of the Division Street Historic District.

"Maintaining, and in some cases restoring, an older building which has emotional and memorable ties for many in the community is an opportunity, but one with special problems." observed Jones.

"It's often difficult simply to locate the artisans and craftsmen who are needed, but we are determined to bring the building back to its best condition and to conserve it for the future."

In pursuing that goal, half the sesquicentennial fund established by the parish is allotted to the physical plant. The remaining half will be divided in equal thirds to provide for general endowment, building endowment and to St. Aidan's mission, to help that offshoot of St. Andrew's achieve full status as a self-supporting parish.

Summing up the observance. Jones said:

“We are planning a year of restoration and renewal in both our spiritual life and in the physical plant that has been handed on to us. We will be acknowledging both our debt to those who have gone before us and our commitment to those who will follow us at St. Andrew's."