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Quincy's Oldest Congregation Determined to Rebuild after Fire

Episcopal News Service. August 26, 2002 [2002-197]

Jan Nunley

(ENS) St. John's Episcopal Church, the "historic mother church" of the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy which celebrated its 150th birthday this year, was gutted by a five-alarm fire caused by lightning early August 23, sustaining major damage.

"It's a shell," said Quincy bishop Keith Ackerman of the structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. "You think of a typical Anglo-Catholic church building, it's this one. And it's gone."

A severe thunderstorm, with lightning and heavy rain, passed through Quincy early on the morning of the fire, which started about 5 a.m. Assistant fire chief Dan Rottman said metal beams hanging above the sanctuary had to be removed before firefighters and investigators could safely work inside the building.

"I'm surprised the fire was so well contained," Dave Schlembach, an architect who also is a church member, told the Quincy Herald-Whig. "The sanctuary is completely gone, but with the exception of water and smoke damage, everything else is pretty much unscathed. The roof structure is gone, but the walls appear to be in good shape."

Priceless artwork destroyed

The most heavily damaged part of the structure was the portion built in 1877. A hand-carved reredos, created by Bavarian craftsmen, was hit by burning timbers from the roof. The building's two Tiffany stained glass windows were damaged and the organ was lost. Firefighters kept the blaze away from a chapel on the north end of the building and the administration area of the church, which houses an early education center.

Ackerman said a painting called "Final Harvest" that hung behind the altar was also lost, along with the bishop's chair with the names of each bishop of the diocese carved into it. Miraculously, he added, three items survived: a wooden tabernacle containing consecrated bread from the Eucharist; a crucifix given to Ackerman at his ordination, which he had donated to the church in memory of his parents; and a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, which he had also donated. Soot from the fire formed "a tear" at the corner of Mary's eye, Ackerman said.

The church is the oldest church structure in Quincy, Illinois and has served as cathedral for the diocese of Illinois, which was divided into the Dioceses of Quincy, Chicago and Springfield in 1877, as well as for the Diocese of Quincy until 1962. The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, which covers most of west-central Illinois, has 4,000 members at eight parishes and 16 missions.

The structure was the subject of a dispute in the 1990s between the Diocese of Quincy and a breakaway faction of parishioners dissatisfied with the national Episcopal church. In an out-of-court settlement, the diocese retained the property and some of the parish's funds, while the breakaway group formed a congregation affiliated with the Anglican Church in America (ACA), a "continuing Anglican" church body, with the remaining funds and some of the church's liturgical treasures.

Rebuilding planned

Ackerman celebrated Mass at noon the day after the fire in the parish hall, telling the congregation that "as precious as the building is, we are going to be the church."

"The parish is determined to rebuild through the grace of the Holy Spirit," said Tad Brenner, the parish's senior warden and a diocesan deputy to General Convention.

"There is no question that this church will be rebuilt," Kirby Eber, the parish's junior warden, told the Quincy Herald-Whig. "I'm sure it will be as close to a restoration as possible."

This is not the first time the 200-member parish has suffered a fire. Another blaze damaged the church's Cathedral Hall in 1985.

Plans to replace the organ, valued at $400,000, were in the works before the fire. The bell tower, which contains a rare 11-bell carillon, "seems intact, but the jury is still out," Schlembach said.

A restoration/rebuilding fund has been established at the church:

Saint John's Church

701 Hampshire St.

Quincy, Il 62301

[thumbnail: Exterior of St. John's Ep...] [thumbnail: Damage to the organ at St...] [thumbnail: Interior damage to St. Jo...]