St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Put-in-Bay, Ohio)

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Put-in-Bay, Ohio. It is located at Catawba Ave and Lakeview Dr. Episcopal Church (United States).1865 Episcopal Congregation EstablishedSt. Paul's Episcopal Church was built by the congregation formed on South Bass Island in 1864 with the assistance of Jay Cooke.St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Lake Erie was established in the fall 1864 by The Rev. John Miles Kendrick and the local residents. They started out meeting in the school. Over the winter they raised funds to build a church building. In May 1865, at the close of the Civil War, philanthropist Jay Cooke purchased the property where the church sits and contributed to the building fund. The Carpenter Gothic church was completed in October 1865. It appears to have been built from a design in the book Rural Architecture by architect Richard Upjohn. The first service was attended by the new congregation and several guests including Salmon P. Chase, Jay Cooke, and the Rev Parvin, who was the first rector of St. Paul's, Elkins Park PA, where Jay Cooke was a vestry member. After serving the parish for three years Rev Kendrick moved to larger churches and became the Bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Diocese of Arizona and New Mexico in 1889.As the only church on the island, the parish served the entire community. Several years later a Roman Catholic congregation was established. Today there are two still churches on the island.