The Legacy of St. Philip's Church Syracuse's 15Th Ward
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Amazing Grace The Legacy of St. Philip’s Church Syracuse’s 15th Ward Grace Church (Episcopal) 819 Madison Street CONTINUING THE JOURNEY AT GRACE CHURCH Syracuse, NY 13210 & The Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, rector AND OTHER SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 1 “We are still in the day of small things... ...but we must remember that God uses the small things of the earth to accomplish great ends.” –The Rev. Herbert G. Coddington, Rector of Grace Church, on the second anniversary of the founding of St. Philip’s Church, Syracuse, New York, July 24, 1899 1 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 2 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY SHIRLEY DAVIS COURTESY St. Philip’s Sunday Schoolers. Front row: Gary Davis, Sheila Hazel and Gregory Davis. Back row: Robert Clark and Sandra Hazel. According to Gary and Gregory’s mother, Shirley Dunham Davis, these children were raised by the rule, “You had to go to church, or you couldn’t do anything else.” 2 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 3 Amazing Grace The Legacy of St. Philip’s Church 1857 to 1957 CONTINUING THE JOURNEY AT GRACE CHURCH AND OTHER SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES COURTESY BETTY CURRY COURTESY 3 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 4 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 Thank you to everyone who so generously shared family photographs, news articles, research papers and memories to enable us to compile this anniversary booklet, Amazing Grace. It provides a glimpse of life at St. Philip’s Church and Grace Church through the pictures and stories of just a few of the many people who have been part of these church families. Published by Grace Church (Episcopal) in celebration of the legacy of St. Philip’s Church, Syracuse’s African American Episcopal Church, and 50 years of racial integration at Grace Church. 2007 is both the 110th anniversary of the founding and the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of St. Philip’s Church. Compiled by Susan Keeter. Rev. Nov. 2007 Copyright – Grace Episcopal Church, Syracuse, New York 2007 On the cover: St. Philip’s Choir (circa 1950-1954). Front row: The Rev. Walter Parker, Sidney Harrison, ___, Sharon Fletcher, Gwen Harrison, Judith Wells Brooks, Ann __. Back row: John Ash, Lorraine Wells Merrick, ___, Louise Miller (choir director), ____, Mary Latham, ___, Dorothea Perez, ____. 4 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 5 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY WILLIAM MOORE COURTESY St. Philip’s was organized in 1897. The parish obtained its own building four years later. “The Free Church of St. Philip” was incorporated on January 16, 1901. The first service was held in this building, located at 209 Almond St., Syracuse, on June 2, 1901. This wooden building was replaced 20 years later with an elaborate, stucco church. 5 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 6 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY EPISCOPAL YORK DIOCESE OF EPISCOPAL CENTRAL NEW COURTESY The Rev. Herbert G. Coddington, rector of Grace Church, organized St. Philip’s Church on July 25, 1897 and remained involved in its day-to-day operations until 1914. In 1901 or 1902, Mr. Nathaniel Peterson Boyd was hired as an assistant to Father Coddington at St. Philip’s Church. The Rev. Floarda Howard (1904) was the first rector dedicated to St. Philip’s Church. 6 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 7 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY EPISCOPAL YORK DIOCESE OF EPISCOPAL CENTRAL NEW COURTESY Records show that the first person to be baptized as a member of St. Philip’s was 26-year-old Agnes Annetta Harvey. She was baptized at Hendricks Hall on Fayette Street by Father Coddington on September 26, 1897. After Father Howard (the first rector) left in 1905, St. Philip’s had a series of pastors: The Rev. James Empringham (1905 and 1912-1913), the Rev. Karl Heyne (1906), lay ministers (1907-1909), the Rev. Ray Wooten and the Rev. Johnstone (1910), Mr. Wilbur Q. Rodgers and the Rev. William Howard* (1911-1913), the Rev. William S. Hayward (1913-1915), the Rev. A.H. Maloney (1915-1917) and the Rev. W.E. Gillian (1917-1919). *Father Howard remodeled the wooden church and “the mission began real progress” while Father Gilliam was rector. Father Hayward served at the Onondaga Nation and compiled a grammar book of the Onondaga Language. 7 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 8 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY EPISCOPAL YORK DIOCESE OF EPISCOPAL CENTRAL NEW COURTESY Several family members of the Bishop Jermain Loguen and his wife, Caroline, attended St. Philip’s Church. They included son Gerrit Smith Loguen (1847-1918) and his wife, Louisa Matthews (d. 1902); daughter Mary Catherine (1854-1907) and her husband, James Cromwell; grandsons Lewis Douglass (b. 1889) and Gerrit Spellman Loguen (b. 1894); and Mrs. 8 Loguen’s sister, Sarah Storum (d. 1904). The Loguens’ home was the main station of the Underground Railroad in Syracuse. guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 9 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY SKANEATELES HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL SKANEATELES COURTESY On March 30, 1916, a funeral was held for Henry Kelso at St. Philip’s. Born into slavery, Kelso escaped as a youth and was raised by the Loguen family in Syracuse. Mr. Kelso became a renowned horse trainer. The Rev. A.H. Maloney (St. Philip’s Rector from 1915 to 1917) officiated at the funeral. 9 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 10 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY WILLIAM MOORE COURTESY The Rev. William S. McKay was rector of St. Philip’s from 1919 to 1927. From 1920 to 1922, there was a 350 percent increase in the size of the congregation. 10 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 11 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL ONONDAGA COURTESY The cornerstone of the second St. Philip’s Church building was laid on Oct. 16, 1921. The Rev. William S. McKay, the church’s longest serving rector, presided at the first service in the new building on January 29, 1922. The Rev. F. Willicom Ellegor followed Father McKay and was rector of St. Philip’s from 1927 until his death in 1928. 11 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 12 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY EPISCOPAL YORK DIOCESE OF EPISCOPAL CENTRAL NEW COURTESY The Rev. John T. Ogburn was rector of St. Philip’s from 1928 to 1933. During this time, three services were held every Sunday. Father Ogburn organized the St. Philip’s branch of the Daughters of the King, an order for women. More than a decade later, Father Ogburn returned to St. Philip’s to celebrate communion at the church’s 12 48th anniversary in July 1945. guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 13 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY JUNE MARIE DIXON COURTESY Confirmation certificate for June Marie Rohadfox (Dixon) signed by the Rev. John T. Ogburn of St. Philip’s Church, December 27, 1931. June, age 10, was baptized and confirmed on the same day. 13 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 14 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL ONONDAGA COURTESY The Rev. Henry B. Lee was pastor at St. Philip’s Church from 1933 to 1942, and was ordained in 1936. He was described as “A devoted priest...Mr. Lee’s absorbing passion is to minister to the religious and social needs of his...community.” 14 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 15 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HISTORICAL ONONDAGA COURTESY Father Lee arrived at the depth of the Depression. Often, there was no coal or money so the church’s furnace was fueled by discarded shoes, old hymnals and prayer books. 15 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 16 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY EPISCOPAL YORK DIOCESE OF EPISCOPAL CENTRAL NEW COURTESY “Father Lee met the emergency of the time by making the church, not only a place of worship but also an employment agency, a center relief, a W.P.A. sewing circle...If ever was a father in God to the people, a loving shepherd to the flock at St. Philip’s mission, that was Father Lee.” 16 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 17 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY BEAUCHAMP LIBRARY BEAUCHAMP COURTESY Eleanor Werts with her children, Marjory and Raymond, 1934 or 35. Mrs. Werts was very active at St. Philip’s Church. Raymond was an acolyte. Marjory Werts Wilkins remembers that Friday nights were great times at St. Philip’s, with roller skating, fish fries and music. 17 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 18 ST. PHILIP’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 1897 TO 1957 COURTESY WILLIAM MOORE COURTESY St. Philip’s Church member June Marie Rohadfox (Dixon) with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, 1940 or 41. June was a member of the girls’ unit at Hartwick Seminary at the time, thanks to the guidance of Mildred Moore. Mrs. Roosevelt was celebrating her birthday with a cake made by June. 18 guts 2 11/10/07 5:57 PM Page 19 ST.