History of Saint Paul's Parish
On May 13, 1858, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Manhattan, Kansas territory, was organized and four days later the Rev. Nathaniel Ogden Preston became the first rector. The first Senior Warden was Ambrose Todd. The first Junior Warden was Elisha Madison Thurston. The Vestrymen were A. J. Mead, Edward Newell, Samual G Hoyt, Scott Newell and Henry Booth. A Sunday School was begun, and the women formed the Ladies Industrial Society.
St Paul's was the fourth Episcopal Church to be founded in the Kansas Territory. (St Paul's Church Leavenworth was the first, organized in 1856). The Rev. David Clarkson organized St. John's Parish in Junction City in 1859, and Rev. Preston is credited with preaching the first sermon there. The Rev. Preston, besides his parochial duties, founded Trinity Parish in Wabaunsee. At first services were held in parishioner's homes, often in the Todd home.
In 1859 the church building was begun, on two lots that were donated to St. Paul's by the Cincinnati Company, with funds obtained principally from the Philadelphia and New Orleans Societies. Plans by the great church architect Richard Upjon were obtained and used.
With war clouds hanging ever heavier, violence along the borders continued to mount. New settlers arrived, armed with rifles. The Kansas Territory was in the throes of creating a stable government, establishing an educational system, pacifying the dispossessed Indians, taming the prairies, and preparing for admission as the 34th State of the Union. The Kansas motto To the Stars Through Difficulty, is more than a poetic slogan -- it is bald fact. Kansas became the 34th State on January 29, 1861. The Episcopal General Convention of 1862 set the boundaries of the new Diocese of Kansas to coincide with the boundaries of the State
When the Civil War broke in all its fury, the wave of patriotism that had brought families to Kansas swept Kansas men into the armed services. Kansas supplied more men for the services in proportion to the population than any other state. Of an estimated population of less than 30,000 men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, over 20,000 had responded to the call for military duty. Kansas suffered 8,498 war casualties and had the highest mortality rate of any state in the Union.
The fledgling Episcopal church in Manhattan was put on hold. Construction stopped for lack of workmen. The Rev. Preston was called to Topeka to Grace Church as rector and as principal of the "Episcopal Female Seminary." St. Paul's was left with only lay leaders as there were no priests available. Ambrose Todd joined the army, was made a Captain and served with distinction under General Curtis. In 1864 he took part in the defense against the Confederate General Price's raid on Independence, Mo.
The unfinshed church building was used to store grain during the
war. The Congregation numbered 18 communicants when the war began
and when the Rev. Preston came back to St. Paul's after the war he
was greeted by 4 communicants. The Country was destitute, times were
hard, and money was scarce.
Work on the church was resumed as a labor of love. The Rev. Preston supplemented
his stipend by accepting a position as the Professor of Mathematics and English
Literature at the new Kansas State Agricultural College.
In August 1865 Bishop Vail made his first official visit to Manhattan. He found the people of St. Paul's eager to complete their stone church. The walls, roof and tower had stood for four years while drought, depression, war, and the loss of male communicants had forced suspension of construction. The Bishop spent a week getting acquainted in Manhattan and accompanying the Rev. Preston on his parochial rounds. Rev.Preston traveled extensively East and South, and among his friends collected funds to complete the Church building. But like Moses, he was forbidden to enter the promised land, though permitted to lead people to the border. On the morning of February 14, 1866, a memorably cold and bitterly stormy day, he walked from his residence, where now the college buildings stand, to the old college about a mile to the west. He sat down in his chair in the recitation room. A few minutes later his head was seen to drop to one side. That was all. His soul had entered Paradise.
After Fr. Preston's untimely death, the Rev. John Newton Lee, successor to the Rev. Preston at the Seminary and at Grace Church, Topeka persuaded his brother, the Rev. James Hervey Lee, to resign his parish in Indiana, come to Manhattan, and take Preston's place to "represent our church in this state school." His college salary of $1,000 per annum relieved the Bishop of a rectors stipend. Among his first duties was the presentation to the bishop for confirmation a class of twenty-nine, most of them adults, and many of them heads of families. It was the first and probably the largest class ever confirmed in this church. The Rev. Lee spent the rest of his life in the Manhattan Area. He was rector of St. Paul's five times and during periods when St. Paul's was without a rector served as priest in charge. Whenever he was not assisting at St. Paul's, he taught Classics and Languages in the College, discharged his duties as superintendent of schools of Riley County, and on weekends, without remuneration, did missionary work in Russell, Hays, Ellis, Ellsworth, Salina, Wamego, and Junction City. On April 18, 1870, the Rev. Lee founded Christ Church, Salina now the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Western Kansas.
St. Paul's Church building was completed in 1867, but was used for services before completion. At first there were no pews and the altar was a dining room table. The altar rail was hand made by Ambrose Todd. Many of the furnishings of the church were made by parishioners. By 1870 St. Paul's was ready for consecration, and on Friday the thirteenth of May, 1870 the Rt. Rev. Thomas Hubbard Vail officiated at the consecration. Manhattan's weekly newspaper, The Manhattan Standard, reported the event as follows:
The dedication of St Paul's Episcopal Church in this city, occured last week Friday, at about the hour we were going to press, and too late for an extended notice in that issue. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. M. Schuyler, D.D., of Christ's Church, St Louis, from the words: "For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The sermon was excellent as the text was appropriate.
The ceremony of dedication was conducted by Bishop Vail, assisted by several clergymen. The deed of donation was read on the part of the vestry by Mr. Kurtz; the article of consecration for the bishop, by Rev. D. W. Cox, the rector; followed by the consecration service by the Bishop, after which morning prayer was said. St. Paul's church is built of stone, is large enough to accommodate about two hundred and fifty, in style the genuine gothic, with really elegant stained glass windows and a tower of moderate height, through which access is had to the audience room. It has been completed now about three years and used for public worship during that time.
