Draft:St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church

St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church is a parish church of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, located at 1910 12th Avenue South in the Five Points Historic District of Birmingham, Alabama. The parish was officially founded on February 11, 1887 as a descendant of Birmingham's Cathedral Church of the Advent. It has been led by Rector H. Huey Gardner since 2002.

Parish Origins (1885-1890)

St. Mary's traces its origins to the creation of a Sunday school in about 1885 by the Reverend James A. Van Hoose, an Episcopal Dean and Mayor of Birmingham. The Sunday school met in the home of Mrs. W. T. Underwood, on Avenue C (now 3rd Avenue South) between 18th and 19th Streets. Shortly after organization, meetings were moved to a frame schoolhouse on 4th Avenue South, and then to another frame building at 1814 11th Avenue South, the present site of Birmingham Public Library's Southside Branch.

On January 16, 1887, at a called meeting of the vestry of Cathedral Church of the Advent, an application was submitted and approved for permission to form a new parish on the "Southside". On February 11, 1887, Articles of Association were executed for "St. Mary's Church, Highlands, Alabama", signed by Rev. Van Hoose, Judge Thomas B. Lyons, Edmund W. Rucker, B. D. Whilden, R. H. Pearson, James Weatherly, L. D. Aylett, Andrew M. Adger, John S. Jemison, and future Alabama Governor Joseph Forney Johnston. Seven of these men, along with one other, would become the church's first vestry. According to church history, the name St. Mary's was strongly campaigned for by noted church and social worker Miss Alma Rittenberry, and was ultimately selected because there was no other Episcopal church in Alabama by that name. At that time, Highlands was an independent suburban town in what is now Birmingham's southside, not yet annexed into the City of Birmingham.

On April 14, 1887, the founders of St. Mary's met at the home of Judge Lyons, on the Southeast corner of 19th Street and 10th Avenue South. Rector Thomas Jefferson Beard of Church of the Advent presided, and St. Mary's inaugural vestry was named. The new vestry met officially the following day. Despite not having a rector or a place of worship, St. Mary's sent two delegates to the Diocesan Convention held in Greensboro, Alabama on May 12, 1887, and was admitted as a parish.

The first meetings of the church were held at the Lakeview Theatre, located at Lakeview Avenue and 32nd Street, site of present-day Highland Park Golf Course. Rev. Lysander W. Rose was called as the church's first Rector, and held his first service there on July 21, 1887. Rose would later say about the church's time at the Lakeview Theatre, "Our experiences at Lakeview had all the charm of novelty and uniqueness. What with the noise of the dummies [streetcars], the traffic about us in tobacco and confectionaries, the talk of outsiders all through the service and the splashings of swimmers in the natatorium beneath us, it is hardly too much to say that we were not in harmony with our environment."

On December 8, 1887, the vestry resolved to purchase a "spacious" lot from the Elyton Land Company on the Northeast corner of 20th Street and Magnolia Avenue, where the first church would be constructed, a frame Gothic-type building seating 350. The first service took place in the new building on February 19, 1888. St. Mary's hosted the Diocesan Convention in this building in 1889.

On the morning of December 4, 1890, the original church building was destroyed by fire, reportedly caused by spontaneous combustion of oil-soaked rags which had been used to oil the church's woodwork. Oiling of the woodwork had been part of a capital project for improvements to the church, paid for by fundraising. Many church records and documents from its first three years were lost in the blaze.

The first church building included a baptismal font which had been given by the Reverend Rose in memory of his daughter, Carrie Edmonston Rose, whom had died in another fire. The font was reportedly the only item to survive the burning of the original building. It was moved to the church's current sanctuary, and is still used today.

Present-Day Sanctuary (1891)

Following the destruction of its first building by fire, the congregation first returned to meeting at the Lakeview Theatre, and then to a temporary structure facing 20th Street between 12th and 13th Avenue South, on a lot loaned to the church by Edmund W. Rucker. The vestry soon decided to sell the original church property, and in March, 1891 purchased a new lot at the Northeast corner of 19th Street and 12th Avenue South -- site of the present-day church. Designed by English-born architect John B. Sutcliffe, the English Gothic-styled sanctuary with Richardson Romanesque detailing has been called "one of Birmingham’s best examples of English Revival ecclesiastical architecture". The building is laid out in the form of a Greek cross; the sanctuary exterior is of Kansas Sandstone. Constructed under the leadership of Rector Owen P. Fitzsimmons, the cornerstone was laid on August 13, 1891. Fitzsimmons' name is carved into the stone steps leading to the then- (now former) sacristy.

With the building nearing completion, the first service was held in its basement on Christmas Day, 1891. The church's vestry had promised a new building by Christmas, and that promise was met. The first official service upstairs in the new Sanctuary occurred on February 28, 1892, with Bishop Richard Wilmer and the Rector and congregation of Cathedral Church of the Advent in attendance. Bishop H. M. Jackson preached the sermon, and a class of eight was confirmed. The service featured a special choir "made up from the very finest voices in the city. The building's completed cost, including land,was approximately $40,000. It was formally consecrated on December 29, 1895. St. Mary's survives as a contributing structure - as well as the oldest church - in the NRHP-listed Five Points South Historic District.

Up until August, 1899, parishioners at St. Mary's paid pew rents in order to sit in the best pews. Those who had not rented a pew could sit only in the less desirable places in the sanctuary. This was common practice in Anglican, Catholic, and Presbyterian churches at the time, as a principal means of raising income for the Church.

St. Mary's is known for its beautiful collection of stained glass windows. The building was originally built with clear glass; stained glass was commissioned and installed in the sanctuary in two campaigns. The first campaign, all of which were gifts and memorials, was supplied by Franz Mayer of Munich, Germany. These windows include The Resurrection, Christ Blessing the Little Children (1900), The Widow's Mite (1901), The Ascension (1901), and The Last Supper (1902). The latter, designed by Franz Mayer himself, was installed in memory of St. Mary's recently-deceased rector, Fitzsimmons, and fulfilled his dream of having a depiction of The Last Supper above the altar.

After World War I, the congregation of St. Mary's wished to finish out the remaining clear windows in the nave with stained glass. Believing (incorrectly) that Franz Mayer of Munich had been destroyed in the war, and probably also reflecting post-war anti-German sentiment, the church selected The Jacoby Art Glass studio of St. Louis to supply the remaining windows. Furthermore, as the catalyst for this campaign was a desire to memorialize the men of the parish who served in World War I, contracting a German artist would probably not have seemed appropriate. Unlike many installations which combine the work of two different artists, an obvious effort can be seen on the part of Jacoby to coordinate their work to complement the previous work of Mayer. The first Jacoby window, The Two Crowns, was commissioned as the war memorial window, adapted from a painting of the same name by Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee. It and a second work, The Visit of the Magi, were dedicated in 1919. Two additional windows, The Boy Christ in the Temple and The Rich Young Ruler were installed in 1927 -- and a final two, Christ Quieting the Storm and The Good Shepherd, in 1929. Other Jacoby windows were made for the (now former) sacristy and vestibule in 1954 and 1966.

Renovation and Expansion (1926-Present)

The original church lot measured 172 by 105 feet; over the years, the church has since expanded its footprint through the purchase of adjoining property. In 1926, under the guidance of Rector Oscar deWolf Randolph, a new Parish House was constructed at a cost of $100,000, complementing the stone architecture of the sanctuary. By that time, St. Mary's had become, according to the 1930s account of Rector Richard Bland Mitchell, "one of the largest and richest churches in the south", and bonds were issued to pay for its construction. The church's Parish Hall would later be named Randolph Memorial Hall in Randolph's memory, a name which has survived despite relocation and reconstruction of the physical space. The Parish House is named Drennen House, after Birmingham businessman and alderman Darlyne MacDonald "Mac" Drennen and his wife Emma Houston Drennen (daughter of Alabama Governor George Houston), who were members and benefactors of St. Mary's. Additional expansion to the campus was undertaken in 1940, 1969, and 1974.

Among the original members of the Sunday school which became St. Mary's was Miss Louise Rucker, daughter of founder and vestryman Edmund W. Rucker. In 1900, Rucker built the Rucker-Agee House, also known as Rucker Place, just one block West of the church as a wedding gift for Louise and her husband, Walter Agee. Today, the church owns contiguous property between it and the Rucker-Agee house, a portion of which is used for parking.

In 2021, St. Mary's campus underwent a historically-sensitive renovation and expansion designed by KPS Group, architects. The project improved the campus' infrastructure, access, and functionality, and received a Merit Award from the Alabama Council of the American Institute of Architects. As part of the project, a new large, column-free parish hall was constructed -- still bearing the name Randolph Memorial Hall. Additionally, a new connector was built linking the sanctuary building with the parish house, which was named Gardner Commons in honor of Rector H. Huey Gardner.

Music at St. Mary's

St. Mary's has placed a particular emphasis on its music program since the beginnings of the church, which is evident in the church minutes. The original building had a small pipe organ; the first organist was one Miss Adams, followed by a Mr. Kirkpatrick. Those were followed by a Mr. Guckenberger, and Miss Edna Gockel-Gussen, who wrote the musical setting for "Alabama", Alabama's state song. By April, 1897, the church had established a fully-paid choir. Directors of Music/Organists at St. Mary's have included the composer Sam Batt Owens, D.M.A., Natalie Talley, Ann H. Giambrone, Paul Mosteller, D.M., and John T. Lowe, Jr., D.M.. The Choir and Rehearsal Room is named for Giambrone.

The present 1891 sanctuary originally housed a 2-manual Frank Roosevelt pipe organ, opus #513. It was later given to Trinity Episcopal in Bessemer, AL, and succeeded by Austin Organ Co. opus #940 in 1922 (the Austin was later given to Birmingham-Southern College), by Schantz Organ Co. Opus #324 in 1957 (now located at Northwestern Christian Church in Upper Arlington, OH), and finally by 3-manual, 55-rank Casavant Frères Opus #3805 in 2001, designed by Dr. James H. Cook. Cook had previously been a student of Owens. Concurrent with the installation of the Casavant organ in 2001, sensitive architectural modifications were undertaken to the historic sanctuary, designed by John Carraway, who also designed the church's interior columbarium.

The church maintains an active choir with both volunteer and staff singers, which has toured abroad; children's, youth, and handbell choirs, and embarked on an annual concert series in 2024.

Founding Vestry

• Judge Thomas B. Lyons
• Edmund W. Rucker, industrial leader
• Joseph F. Johnston (Senior Warden), 30th Governor of Alabama and U.S. Senator
• James Weatherly (Delegate to Diocesan Convention), attorney and three-term Birmingham City Commission member
• John S. Jemison (Junior Warden), Birmingham businessman in the real estate and automobile businesses; brother to Robert Jemison, Jr.
• L. D. Aylett (Treasurer), businessman and investor
• Andrew M. Adger (Secretary), secretary-treasurer of the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company, and namesake for the mining community of Adger, Alabama
• George C. Ball (Senior Warden, Delegate to Diocesan Convention)

List of Rectors

• Lysander W. Rose, June 24, 1887 - resigned Feb. 22,1891
• Owen P. Fitzsimmons, June, 1891 - died Sep. 17, 1891
• John W. Cantey Johnson, Feb. 1,1902 - resigned Oct. 31, 1907
• Willoughby Newton Claybrook, Nov. 1, 1908 - resigned Mar. 2, 1919
• Oscar deWolf Randolph, Mar. 3, 1919 - resigned Sep. 30, 1928 to become Rector and President of Virginia Episcopal School
• Richard Bland Mitchell, Sep. 1, 1929 - resigned Oct. 1938 to become Bishop of Arkansas
• William Henry Marmion, December 8, 1938 - 1950
• David Cady Wright (believed to be David Cady Wright, Jr.), 1951-1970
• M. William Asger, 1976-1986
• Maurice L. "Rusty" Goldsmith, 1986-2002?
• H. Huey Gardner, 2002 - Present

Notes

References

• Works Progress Administration Survey of State and Local Historical Records: 1936, by R. J. Wilson and Alma C. LeNoir https://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/wpa-religion/id/1034
• St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands Centennial History, 1987, published by the church; various authors, edited by Pearl L. McNemar and Margaret S. Marcus, B.A., M.A.