St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Orange County. Back in 1863, a missionary by the name of the Reverend Joseph Wood Dunn established this church.

Now, they didn't have a fine building to gather in, not yet. The earliest services were conducted right in the home of a man named Jerome Swinford. Somebody's parlor, somebody's kitchen table, the Word going out same as it would anywhere else.

But here's where the story gets a little warmer. Jerome Swinford's mother-in-law, a woman named Mary W. Trumble, she donated land.

A corner lot, Fourth and Main, and that's where the first church building went up. You want to talk about family putting skin in the game, there it is. And while the building was rising and the mission was growing, the Women's Guild was making sure the money kept pace.

Selling cakes, serving meals, doing what needed doing to keep a young congregation on its feet. That's not a footnote, that's the engine. Then came 1920, and during the pastorate of the Reverend Edgar N.

LeBlanc, St. Paul's was elevated to a full parish. From a missionary's first gathering in a borrowed home, to a parish standing on donated land, built in part on cake sales and determination.

Since the 1860s, the marker says, this church has been active in the development of Orange. That's a long time to keep showing up.

What the marker says

This church was established in 1863 under the leadership of the Rev. Joseph Wood Dunn, an area missionary. The earliest services were conducted in the home of Jerome Swinford. His mother-in-law Mary W. Trumble later donated land at the corner of Fourth and Main for construction of the first church building. The Women's Guild provided funds for the growing mission by selling cakes and serving meals. In 1920, during the pastorate of the Rev. Edgar N. LeBlanc, St. Paul's became a parish. Since the 1860s, the church has been active in the development of Orange.