Less than a decade after the founding of the city of Albany, the first Episcopal Church missionary came to the Southwest Georgia community. The seeds that were planted took root with the founding of St. Paul’s Parish on April 21, 1851. This weekend, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will celebrate 175 years of continued service with special services.

A choral evensong service will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, and will be followed by a reception in the Parish Hall. The Eucharist will be at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 26, and will also be followed by a reception.

The Rev. Stephen Norris became the 21^st Rector of St. Paul’s in March and, with the parish’s 175^th anniversary on the horizon, began looking into the church’s history. “I had no idea St. Paul’s had such a rich history that stretches back to pre-Civil War days,” he said. “It was very interesting reading about the history and the diversity of the congregation that made up St. Paul’s.

“It’s often referred to by the Diocese as the ‘Cathedral of the Southwest’ because it is one of the oldest Episcopal churches in this area.”

Some of those stories will find their way into his sermon at the Sunday Eucharist. “My remarks will be tying in about Jesus being our good shepherd and following his voice,” the Rev. Norris said. “It will be about those who came after Jesus being our shepherds as well—shepherds of the faith. Handing down the faith to us. The generations before us passed down this good heritage that we have. I’ll be telling the history and some of the stories of the people who gave us St. Paul’s.”

The Saturday evening service will be primarily music and song. “This is a traditional service that dates back to 1549,” the Rev. Norris noted. “The evensong service is done at twilight. It’s meant to be a contemplative, peaceful service at the setting of the sun.”

The theme for the Saturday evening service is “How Firm a Foundation.” “Some of the music will be set to that song,” the Rev. Norris said. “We have a guest organist who will come from Columbus, and she’ll play two pieces before our service to get us into a prayerful mood.”

The Rector noted that outreach to the community was an early commitment of St. Paul’s Church, pointing out “the faithfulness of the people who started teaching children. As soon as St. Paul’s was founded, they went out and gathered children and had a very robust Sunday school program, which led to kindergarten program in the parish later that many of our congregants attended.”

While the first Bishop of Georgia, the Right Rev. Stephen Elliott, authorized the organization of St. Paul’s Parish with the election of the first Vestry on April 21, 1851, its history goes back to eight years after Albany’s founding in 1836. In 1844, the Rev. Mr. Ellis, as he is recorded in the church history, came to Albany and stayed for about one year. The Rev. J.H. George took charge of the missionary field in Albany in 1851, leading to the organization of the parish.

Many of its first congregants were planters, so it is unsurprising that, in its first years, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s rotation of meeting locations included plantations. First Sunday services were held 17 miles from Albany at P.M. Nightingale’s plantation, where a house was provided for the services. Second Sundays were at the plantations of Major Nelson, Major Fishburn, and Mr. Hill. Fourth Sunday services were at the home of A. Colquitt. Third Sunday and all Friday services were held at the old Academy Building at the corner of Broad Avenue and Jefferson Street in Albany.

The Albany church raised money for a permanent building as the initial congregation of 88 adults added 30 new communicants in its first year as an official organization. Nearly two-thirds of the communicants were Black adults on the plantations. St. Paul’s began acquiring and was gifted land for its first church building in 1853. On May 15, 1855, Bishop Elliott consecrated a frame building at the southwest corner of Jefferson Street and Oglethorpe Boulevard. The building had a spacious balcony for Black members of the congregation.

While many early church members were lauded in the church history, one man who was “not aligned with any of the religious bodies” was mentioned as vital to the parish’s early survival during the Civil War that broke out only years after St. Paul’s was organized. To the liberality of William W. Cheever, the history notes, “the parish owes its existence. Up to his untimely death in the heyday of his manhood in the year 1863, he lavishly supported the parish and enabled the congregation when (it was) few in number and weak financially to swim with the current.”

Business interests in Albany had been neglected since 1861, when the “Civil War sprang hydra-headed into the community,” the church history said. For the last three years of the war, the church was closed “except when opened by the good women of that day” because the Rev. George McCauley, the colorful Scot-Irishman who succeeded the Rev. George in October 1859, went to the warfront with the 51st Georgia Volunteers in 1862. The women continued their supportive work into spring 1865, helping the Rev. McCauley after he returned semi-invalid from war injuries following the Second Battle of Manassas.

In 1867, Albany was awarded the church convention, which was called to order by Bishop Elliott in the first week of May. On what started as a bright, beautiful spring Wednesday, an unexpected dark cloud suddenly loomed. During the Litany, according to the memoirs of Mrs. Henry A. Tarvar, “the measured gallop of cavalry was heard.” The orders to stop and dismount could be heard by those inside the church building. A number of federal troops quietly but unsettlingly entered the church and sat down on the back pews.

Bishop Elliott’s voice remained steady as he preached on charity, urging those within earshot not to judge their fellow men until they had examined their own hearts and could say there was nothing that they would hide from their “nearest and best friend.” There was tension in the air as the benediction came, but afterward the troops left as quietly as they had entered. The troops mounted their horses, “and a storm cloud which was feared would result in the Bishop’s arrest passed away” with them as they rode off.

The years after the war through 1871 were particularly difficult ones for the parish, but by the early 1890s the congregation had recovered and grown to the point where a new church building was needed. The Rev. H. Baldwin Dean, who became rector in 1894, led the movement for a new church building.

The present site of St. Paul’s at the corner of Jefferson Street and Flint Avenue was acquired, and the cornerstone was laid on Jan. 25, 1896. Less than eight months later, the new building was in full use. The parish debt was retired by September 1901, and Bishop Nelson consecrated the church building on Jan. 25, 1903.

The main building, with its majestic wooden Gothic arches and inspiring stained-glass windows, 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.

The first unit of the Parish Hall was added in 1949, and it has been expanded twice. St. Paul’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel, a mid-century style chapel that comfortably seats 35 people, was consecrated in 1962, and the Lucy Walters Memorial Garden was dedicated in 1993.

St. Paul’s has helped expand the Episcopal footprint in Albany over the decades, nurturing the establishment of three local Episcopal churches—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.

The church also continues to be a good neighbor in the Albany Community. In the 1980s, St. Paul’s Deacon Dudley Lippitt led an AIDS support group. Now, the church offers food to those who need it weekly with its Ladles of Love program. Deacon Joy Davis leads the church’s clothing drives.

It also provides space for AA meetings each week and various community meetings. St. Paul’s Scout Troop is the longest-serving in Albany. And each fall, the church holds Barney’s Run for Wounded Warriors, which has 10K and 5K races 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).

“I’ve been in the Diocese all my life, but since coming here, I have discovered the unique richness of the history of this parish and what it means to Albany,” the Rev. Norris said. “We invite everyone in the community to join us this weekend for these special services.”