St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel Celebrates 150 Years
By Rodger Nichols
The newest point of interest in The Dalles is 1 of the town’s oldest buildings. The modest but well-preserved Carpenter Gothic building at Fifth and Union streets is the original home of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
A Cornerstone of the Community
In 1875, The Dalles boasted a population of more than 1,000, and the congregation of the Episcopal church had grown so large that meeting in people’s homes was no longer practical. Episcopal Bishop of Oregon Benjamin Wistar Morris purchased land to build a church for $50 in gold coins. Today, that amount of gold would be worth more than $8,000.
The cornerstone was laid May 28, 1875, and the first service was held on Christmas Day that year. The church celebrated its 150th anniversary this year—on May 28, naturally—with a communitywide celebration featuring worship, music, and refreshments.
The church was nearly lost long before reaching that milestone. On September 2, 1891, the worst fire in the history of The Dalles destroyed 17 city blocks and hundreds of homes. The Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational churches were all lost in the blaze, but the fire stopped just a few feet from St. Paul’s.
The building was expanded several times throughout its history, including the addition of Remington Hall. However, the congregation eventually outgrew the facility and constructed a much larger church at 1805 Minnesota St. in 1962. The congregation began referring to its previous church as “the chapel.”
Gretchen Kimsey is the perfect person to pick up the story as it enters living memory territory. She and her husband, the late Rev. Rustin Kimsey, moved to The Dalles from Baker City when he became rector of St. Paul’s.
“We moved here in the summer of ’71,” she says. “Right away, Rustin decided to have Holy Week services here in the chapel. The chapel had not been used in the 1960s because St. Paul’s on the Hill was finished in 1962.”
In the decade, the chapel was rarely used by the congregation, the building served as a Red Cross facility, and Remington Hall housed a geology museum.
“The chapel had been used during those years for special occasions,” Gretchen says. “Sometimes a wedding, sometimes a funeral. Usually, during Holy Week, before Easter, there would be services here, always on Christmas morning.”
Christmas Traditions
Although the first Christmas Day service at St. Paul’s was held nearly a century before Gretchen and her husband arrived in The Dalles, the event was so memorable that the tale was passed down for generations.
“The story goes that the side windows that arrived just a day before Christmas were the wrong size. And so, the men got together and figured out a way to have the windows be installed so that a wood stove, which was the only source of heat at that time, could be lit. And the interior of the chapel at least warmed above freezing,” Gretchen says. “That was the very first service held here at the Chapel at St. Paul’s. And Rustin revitalized that tradition in 1971. Christmas services have been in the chapel at 10 a.m. every year since.
“During the years that Rustin was bishop, I prepared food and hosted a Christmas party every year here for the community,” she adds. “People could come, we’d have a roaring fire in the fireplace, and I served Danish kringle and wassail. That was something I loved to do.”
Taking on a New Life
The chapel gained a new purpose in 1980, when Rustin became Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon.
“The actual ordination was at The Dalles High School in Kurtz gymnasium,” Gretchen says. “After the ceremony, the police had Union Street cordoned off, and everybody who was able walked from the high school, down the middle of the street to the chapel, where it was rededicated as the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon’s official home.
For the next 20 years, until Rustin retired in 2000, his office was there. The diocesan archives were also stored in the building. The archives remained in a back office at St. Paul’s Chapel until recently, when the materials were moved to Cove, where the diocese maintains its Ascension School and summer camp facilities.
“A deacon, Georgia Giacobbe, was our archivist,” Gretchen says. “She would come on a regular basis here and research and catalog and do what archivists do.”
The congregation continues to use the chapel for regular Wednesday noon services and special services during Holy Week and on Christmas. But Episcopalians are not the only faith community using the building. A Quaker congregation meets there twice a month.
With the removal of the archives, the diocese no longer has an interest in maintaining ownership of the building and property, and there are plans for the local congregation to purchase it.
We hope that the chapel will remain a place of worship and a place where people can gather for significant events. — Gretchen Kimsey
“Now we are exploring other best uses for Remington Hall and for the chapel,” Gretchen says. “We hope that the chapel will remain a place of worship and a place where people can gather for significant events. And Remington Hall can be used in a variety of ways, such as meeting space for various groups, and the little office spaces could possibly be used by nonprofit groups or for a fledgling business of some kind.”
She also says the congregation is prepared to open the chapel as a tourist attraction. A brochure has been prepared, laying out all the points of interest in the building, including the stained-glass windows made by the Povey Brothers of Portland, one of the premier glass studios in the Northwest.
“I see the chapel as a place of outreach to the community to visit, and also find comfort and peace,” Gretchen says. “As a historic building, St. Paul’s Chapel has a long and interesting story to tell.”