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| Trinity c. 1890 |
In
August, 1864, Alpena's first Episcopal services were held in the home of Mrs. F. J. McCartney by the Rev. Mr. Banwell, rector
of Grace Church, Port Huron, MI. By the end of the year, things were such
that the local paper could report:
“On
Christmas Day (1864) we attended the Episcopal service which has been established here, and is conducted by friend Paxton. They are getting along extremely well when we consider the fact that they have only
been in operation a few weeks. They have a regular appointment in the court house
every Sabbath at 3 o’clock, and their meetings are well attended. They
are now making arrangements for the erection of a church.”
The church erected is called a "churchly little chapel" in a history
written by one of the earlier members. Moreover, it was one of Alpena's earliest brick buildings, and still stands at 150
W. Washington Ave. Services were held in it for the first time on Christmas Day, 1867.
That the congregation could so soon undertake and complete their first building testifies, perhaps, to the
effectiveness of their first priest, the Rev. George O. Bachman. Installed as the "missionary" in July 1865, he had baptized
and otherwise united to the congregation by the time he left at the end of 1866.
Meanwhile, the first Vestry had been elected in August 1865. The Wardens were Ozias Mather and a Mr.
J. Frink. The others were Andrew W. Comstock, Henry R Morse, Abram Hopper, B. B. Paige, W. P. Malden, and George S. Lester.
They were among Alpena's most prominent and influential citizens.
Mssrs. Comstock and Morse were still leaders in the congregation when, in 1882, they were joined by George
D. Maltz, John S. MInor, and Frank W. Gilchrist to form a building committee. The "churchly chapel" was no longer large enough
to accomodate the growing number of Episcopalians.
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| Trinity sometime before 1905 Comstock Parish Hall |
The cornerstone for the present structure was laid in 1883, and the building was consecrated in 1884. An
article in the Alpena Weekly Argus described the building this way:
In size it is 64 feet wide and 103 feet long. The roof is covered with slate, and the tower extends to a
height of 90 feet, being surmounted with a cross. The tower is arranged so that a clock can be placed therein come day. The
interior is beautifully decorated, and the acoustic properties are first class. The nave is 38 x 57 feet and contains 36 oaken
pews ... thus making the seating capacity of the nave 288 persons. The gallery will seat about 50 persons.
The undated photograph at right was taken from the roof of the Masonic Building that once stood
on S. Second Ave. It shows a building well-maintained by an evidently prosperous congregation. While the photo's exact date
cannot be determined, it was taken earlier than 1905, when the cornerstone was laid for Comstock Hall.
| Capt. Phelps Collins |
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| Click to enlarge. |
A special event in Trinity's history was the 1918 Memorial Service for Captain Phelps Collins,
a communicant of the parish and the first member of the U.S. Air Service to lose his life on a combat
mission. Captain Collins had become an ace with the famed Lafayette Escadrille before he and
other American pilots (Eddie Rickenbacker, for example) were formed into the U.S. Air Service in 1917. When flying with the
103rd Aero Squadron on patrol near Paris on March 12, 1918, he drove one enemy plane down before his Spad IV plane crashed to earth behind German lines -- apparently hit by a German fighter. Local, state,
and national dignitaries filled the church to capacity to pay their respects and to thank God for the life Capt. Collins'
lost in service of his country. (You can read more about Phelps Collins in this New York Times archive.)
| Trinity's choirs, 1939 |
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| Click to enlarge. |
In 1939, members crowded into the normally spacious enough Comstock House to celebrate
the parish's 75th anniversary. As part of the program, Clara Noack and Ralph E. Michaud (the present Rector's grandfather) "sang two delightful
numbers, accompanied by Miss Florence Burnett." (Ralph directed Trinity's choirs for many years, and can be seen to the left
in the photo to the right.) The same newspaper article reports that "Miss Ella White gave entertaining recollections
of Sunday school and community and rural ties in the early years."
The
Rt. Rev. Frank W. Creighton, Bishop of Michigan, toasted the parish with words still appropriate today:
To
Trinity parish, founded 75 years ago in the conviction that God is; that He is perennial; that His religion is resilient to
meet the needs of the day; recall your past with thankfulness; grasp your present with firmness; project your strength into
the future with high hope in the joy and beauty of service.
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