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St. Paul’s became an organized parish of the Diocese of Georgia on April 21, 1851. On May 15, 1855, the first Episcopal Bishop of Georgia consecrated a frame building at the corner of Jefferson Street and Oglethorpe Boulevard, two blocks south of the present site at Jefferson and Flint Avenue. The cornerstone of this building was laid January 25, 1896, and the third Bishop of Georgia dedicated St. Paul’s before the end of that year. The outlay for the new building was between $14,000 and $15,000.
Known in the Diocese as “the mother church of the west,” St. Paul’s has nurtured the establishment of three Episcopal churches in Albany: First, St. John’s in the early 1900s; then St. Mark’s in the early 1950s, which came together as the Episcopal Church of St. John & St. Mark after the flood of 1994; and lastly, St. Patrick’s, established on July 3, 1961.
On December 22, 1962, the sixth Bishop of Georgia consecrated Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The Parish Hall, built in the1940s, was expanded in the 1950s and again in the mid-1980s. The Lucy Walters Memorial Garden was dedicated in 1993. The porte cochere and flanking pergolas, at the rear of the church, were begun in 2008 and completed in 2009.
Most importantly, over the years, St. Paul’s has been known as a place where all peopl e are welcome to worship with or unite with the congregation. Also, as a community of disciples, St. Paul’s reaches out to others in significant ways. In the early 1980s,the parish established the region’s only AIDS/HIV support ministry; since 1986, the Shepherd’s Table has fed thousands of hungry people; and the Clothing Room has provided school uniforms and other clothing needed by many citizens of Albany. |
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