A Connection to the Church of England

Saint Jude´s Episcopal Church

Date Visited:  June 23, 2019

Stop:  #14

Our next stop was just a short walk further south on Leroy Street.  Kathy and I noticed that many of the buildings we walked by had historical markers attached to them, noting them as a City of Fenton Historic Site, paid for by the Fenton Community Fund and Community Foundation of Greater Flint.  Some of the signs recognized several buildings at a time.  Alas, our quest does not include these types of signs, because, otherwise, we would never successfully complete our quest!!!  But it was interesting, just the same, to read them as well.

At the southern end of the business district of Fenton, located on the southeast corner of South Leroy Street and East Elizabeth Street, stood our next objective – the Saint Jude’s Episcopal Church.  This church is recognized by its majestic steeple that contains the main entrance to the church and has a white cross mounted on its peak.  The marker is located to the left of the main entrance.  From this sign, we learned about the early history of this church.  The first Episcopal service in Fenton was held on May 3, 1858.  The society for which the service was held (the Ladies Mite Society) formally organized as the St. Jude’s Episcopal Church on July 18, 1859.  The first church was built on this site in 1860, and the current church was completed in 1893.  The church’s website contains a more detailed history of the church (http://www.stjudesfenton.com/?page_id=2).  I found the story behind the ivy that grows on the north face of the church to be particularly interesting.  According to records, the ivy was brought to St. Jude’s from a cathedral in England by the Rev. Reasoner, who was a rector at the cathedral.  This served to create a special bond between St. Jude’s and the Church of England.  The history includes several references to decisions made by the vestry, the leadership team of lay people in an Episcopal church.  Many of the decisions focused on the rectory (the house owned by the church in which the priest, or rector, resides), expansion plans, and other important issues of the time.  It was interesting to read about more of the history of this church.

Now we had to turn our attention to our last destination in Fenton.  The difficult part was finding it.  Read my next blog to find out why.

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