A Brief History of Saint Andrew's Church

The Beginnings

     Many churches in central Illinois are able to date their beginning to the early and mid nineteenth century. The church here in El Paso is certainly no exception. While the earliest records no longer exist we are able through the work of some members over 50 years ago have some record of what the beginnings of St. Andrew's was like. In 1947, St. Andrew's oldest member was a Miss Jenkens who had been confirmed at St. Andrew's in 1907. She had in her possession some of the earliest records in which was found the following information in a book called the History of St. Paul's Church, El Paso.

The first official recorded act of a minister of the Episcopal Church was by The Rev. Saml. Chase. D.D., while waiting for a train to arrive, he baptized the child of Mr. Hazlett. In August of 1861 the Rev. Mr. Sabaugh held services in the schoolhouse and baptized the son of Mr. Jenkins. The next record is from 1865 when The Rev. Chamberlayne, while returning from the Army stayed over and was invited to lead services in the Presbyterian House of Worship.

By 1866 there was a small and faithful group of Episcopalians in El Paso and services were held in the East Side schoolhouse when the services of a minister could be obtained. In the late 1860s Rev Steele, who was assigned to Rantoul came to El Paso regularly and held regular services. In 1873, efforts to establish a regular Sunday school were successful and the Christian Church building was rented for its use. It soon became one of the largest in the community. In 1876 Bishop McLaren confirmed a class of 16. There had been some efforts to build a church then but those were dropped for a time. The Sunday school and occasional worship continued until 1885 when the members of the Christian Church wanted to use their property again and the Episcopalian once again found new quarters, this time over the store of a Mr. Doyle. They continued to use these rooms until a building could be obtained

A Building of their own

In 1896 their dreams were meet when they bought land and build a church at the corner of First and Cherry. The first service in the new building was on October 25 with a celebration of the Eucharist by Rev. Joseph Rushton of Chicago. On the 27th a Deanery Meeting was held with The Rev. D.S. Phillips, Dean of Kankakee leading services. October 28th was Bishop McLaren confirmed 6 persons in a service and at 10:00 AM on the 29th of October the Church of St. Andrew's was consecrated. A great deal of credit was given to Rev. Steele who had faithfully conducted services for past 12 years and to whose efforts the building of the church was largely due. The cost to the grounds and the new building were estimated to be about $3000.00

The 20th Century History

It is to Miss Jenkins that we owe this short history of the Church in El Paso. According to her a great deal of the effort to build a church in El Paso was from the strong faith and efforts of many of the first families. Much credit was also given to the leadership of Rev Steele, who for twelve years was the Vicar of Grace Church in Pontiac, St. Mathias Church in Fairbury and St. Paul's in El Paso. No reason is given as to the name change at the time of the Consecration in 1896.

Services were held regularly from the early 1900s until the beginning of the Second World War. During that period, due to the lack of a regular priest, services were seldom held and the church while not officially discontinued was for the most part closed. In early 1947 an effort was made by a Lutheran group to buy the building. And while it was not sold to them, they were allowed to use it in return for some much needed repairs and maintenance.

That same year, The Rev. F.H.O. Bowman became rector of St. Matthew's Bloomington. Before the war he had served as Vicar of Grace Church in Pontiac and had conducted services in El Paso. St. Andrew's had been of special interest of his and he soon began an effort to restore the church to a place of worship. It was then that Dr. Marian Miller painted the reredos, as a part of the remodeling of the church In 1948 a new priest was assigned by the Chicago Diocese to return to the work of St. Andrew's. The Rev. John Battle was assigned as Vicar of Grace Church Pontiac, St. Andrew's, and El Paso and to begin regular services in Eureka.

During the 50s and 60s, several vicars served the mission church. Many of these were priests who also were serving in other parishes or cures. In the late 70s, St Andrew's again was beginning to experience some growth and efforts were made to remodel the church. Through the hard work of many of its members, a complete remodeling, including the installation of air conditioning was completed in 1985. In 1987, the Bishop of Chicago assigned Fr. William Anderson to the church.

In 1993, St. Andrew's seceded from the Diocese of Chicago and became part of the Diocese of Quincy. Again the church began to grow in size and more space was need. In 1997, the members started a project to build a parish hall on the lot next to the church. Doing most of the work themselves, the hall was completed in 1999 and dedicate by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy.