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(Photograph by Claudia Shannon) -
(Photograph by Claudia Shannon)
The congregation for this Episcopal church was founded in 1859 and met in various churches and homes until 1865, when they bought this lot and ordered thirty-one stained glass windows. The cornerstone was laid the following year; it is the oldest Episcopal church in Arkansas. Constructed of reddish-brown brick, the Gothic Revival church has short transepts, a steeply pitched roof, a gable front, and a gabled portico with stepped buttresses, all of which are features that identify Episcopal churches of the second half of the nineteenth century. A large square corner tower, with buttresses and a crenellated top, anchors one corner of the facade. The circular window in the facade’s gable is echoed by one in the portico’s gable and repeated on the tower. Inside, the painted wooden ceiling has exposed beams supported on slender beveled columns. With little physical obstruction the large stained glass windows allow the interior to be filled with light. An arcaded passage leads from the church to adjacent school buildings, all of which were later additions.