When St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s home at 212 N. Jefferson St. was constructed, its Rector, the Rev. H. Baldwin Dean, insisted that the congregation construct a building that would stand the test of time. The parish needed a structure that would serve “50 years in the future,” he said.

The Rev. Dean’s wish, uttered in 1896, has long been exceeded. The church building with its majestic wooden gothic arches and inspiring stained-glass windows is still in use. On Sunday, Oct. 24, St. Paul’s will celebrate the building’s 125^th anniversary with a special 10 a.m. worship service.

“It will be an exciting morning at St. Paul’s with the service officiated by the Right Rev. Frank Logue, the Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia, and a reception immediately following in the garden,” anniversary co-chair Shanna Aderhold said.

Making the day even more special will be Bishop Logue’s administering of the Rite of Confirmation to eleven confirmands during the service.

“We hope current and past members of St. Paul’s and members of surrounding churches will join us as we celebrate 125 years at St. Paul’s,” Aderhold said.

The church comfortably seats 350 people. Those who attend will be asked to wear masks for the protection of everyone.

“We are very fortunate that our Rector and members in 1896 had a vision to build such a beautiful place of worship 125 years ago, one that seated many times the church's membership at the time,” St. Paul’s Senior Warden Annabelle Stubbs said.

The celebration, she said, goes beyond the structure itself.

“We are not celebrating just the building,” Stubbs said, “but also what goes on inside its walls and outside of them: joy-giving worship that brings new life to long-standing worship traditions, where all are welcome...and loving service in the community that's inspired by this worship.

“One example is the AIDS support group that Deacon Dudley Lippitt led in the 1980s,” she said. “Today, our Ladles of Love ministry provides lunch every Thursday to our neighbors, and we volunteer at the feeding ministries of First Methodist and St. Clare's Soup Kitchen.

“Our clothing ministry gives new school uniforms, coats, and other clothing items to dozens of children in area schools. We advocate for mental health for all, host several AA meetings each week and various community meetings, and our Scout Troop, the longest serving in Albany, shapes its members and performs service projects as well.”

On Saturday, Oct. 23, St. Paul’s will conduct its 9^th annual Barney’s Run for Wounded Warriors, which has 10K, 5K and a mile fun-run to raise money for service dogs for U.S. military veterans in the region who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“To date, we have provided 13 veterans from the area with companion dogs that help them cope with PTSD,” Lois Hunkele, co-chair of Barney’s Run, said.

While the brick building, which is reminiscent in style to a typical English country church, is marking its 125^th anniversary, the parish predates the building by four decades. St. Paul’s became an organized parish of the Diocese of Georgia on April 21, 1851. On May 15, 1855, the first Episcopal Bishop of Georgia consecrated a frame building at the corner of Oglethorpe Boulevard and Jefferson Street, two blocks south of the current site.

The cornerstone of the current church building at 212 N. Jefferson St. was laid Jan. 25, 1896, and the third Bishop of Georgia dedicated it before the end of that year. The outlay for the building, which is now the second oldest church building still in use in Albany, was between $14,000 and $15,000.

St. Paul’s, known in the Diocese as “the mother church of the west,” has helped expand the Episcopal footprint in Albany over the decades. St. Paul’s nurtured the establishment of three Episcopal churches in Albany—St. John’s in the early 1900s, St. Mark’s in the early 1950s, and St. Patrick’s in 1961. St. John’s and St. Mark’s came together as the Episcopal Church of St. John and St. Mark following the devastating Flood of 1994.

St. Paul’s added its Parish House in the 1940s with two subsequent expansions of the house in the 1950s and in 1987.

The sixth Bishop of Georgia consecrated St. Paul’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel, a mid-century style chapel that comfortably seats 35 people, on Dec. 22, 1962.

The Lucy Walters Memorial Garden was dedicated in 1993. A memorial fountain is the focal point of the large walled garden, which is used regularly throughout the church year for worship, as well as special events such as the annual Blessing of the Animals.

Even after 125 years, the main building is considered one of the most beautiful worship spaces in Albany. The interior of St. Paul’s is reminiscent of an inverted wooden ship, including exposed beams and flying buttress supports.

Four large outstanding stained-glass windows enhance the nave. In addition, the nave is flanked with stained-glass windows on each side. One of St. Paul’s most beloved and distinctive features is the St. Paul window that glows above the south transept. In the center is St. Paul, holding the Word of God and a sword. To the immediate left is St. Gertrude, the patron saint of liturgy, and to the right is St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. The St. Paul’s window and the church’s altar cross were both part of the original 1855 church.

In the northwest corner of the church is a functional bell tower that stands over 65 feet tall. Each Sunday, the bell rings at the beginning of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. services. Those services will be combined into a single 10 a.m. service for the anniversary celebration on Sunday, Oct. 24.

The nave is designed to seat 350 people comfortably, with an entrance on Flint Avenue as well as Jefferson Street. When work began on the building in 1896, however, the Rev. Dean feared that funding concerns would force church officials to have to narrow the chancel of the building. That was an issue despite the fact that brick manufacturing firm Cruger and Pace, whose owners were St. Paul’s parishioners, had given the church a remarkably low building contract of $7,500.

The Rev. Dean made an appeal to the women of the church, who stepped in with a weeklong bazaar that added $1,000 to the building fund. In fact, in the 1950s and 1960s, St. Paul’s was known for conducting successful fundraising bazaars on a regular basis that had people lined up on the sidewalk, waiting for the doors to open.

Like many structures in Albany and Southwest Georgia, St. Paul’s sustained damages in the major storms that devastated the region in 2017 and 2018. Repair work on the roof and windows is in progress, and the St. Paul’s cross, which was dislodged from the roof, has been repaired for reinstallation.

For information about St. Paul’s, please visit www.stpaulsalbany.org and the church’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/StPaulsAlbany.