TUSCUMBIA-The annual memorial service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tuscumbia, will be held on Sunday, November 7, at 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend this All Saint’s Day service of Evening Prayer, which will be conducted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer by the Rev. Danielle Thompson, Rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Sheffield. The original Packard Pump Organ will be played by organist Nancy Bolte and Christa Byrd will serve as music director. The historic church is located at 300 N. Dickson St. (corner of Dickson and Third Streets).
St. John’s Church was founded in 1839. The present building, Alabama’s earliest example of “Carpenter’s Gothic” church architecture, was erected in 1852. During the Federal occupation of Tuscumbia in the 1860’s, the church was used by the Union Army to stable horses. In 1874, the church was extensively damaged by the tornado that struck Tuscumbia and, as a result, the building was reinforced with iron rods and the later addition of buttresses.
The church contains early stained-glass windows which are undergoing careful restoration by stained-glass master craftsman William Dodds. Chancel windows which memorialize a young man who was a casualty of the Civil War and his brother who died of Yellow Fever are the first two windows which have been reworked. The windows throughout the church memorialize many early congregants, including the uncle of Helen Keller, Dr. William Newsum, and an entire family who lost their lives in the 1874 tornado. Following the service, Dodds will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the window restoration project. Refreshments will be served on the lawn.
St. John’s Church was closed for regular services in 1955, but remains a consecrated place of worship, maintained through donations.
For more information or to donate toward the preservation of the historic church, contact Ninon Parker, Church Trustee, 106 N. Dickson St., Tuscumbia, AL 35674; telephone: 256-710-9081.
Media Release/Ninon Parker, Trustee of St. John’s Church
