The Oldest Church In Key West
by Hany J
Title
The Oldest Church In Key West
Artist
Hany J
Medium
Photograph - Original Photo
Description
St. Paul's Episcopal Church is the oldest church in Key West. It held its first service in 1832. The church was destroyed several times by both hurricanes and fires, but the current structure has weathered the elements since 1919.
The building you see before you is the fourth church structure built by St. Paul's parishioners within an 80 year period between the 1800s and early 1900s. In 1831, a mere nine years after the founding of Key West in 1822, St. Paul's church was formed by an official act of the Key West City Council. A signed petition was sent to the Episcopalian Bishop of New York requesting a priest be sent to the island and the Parish of St. Paul's be established. The original church, made of coral rock was completed in 1839. The building was destroyed by the 1846 Havana Hurricane. The storm devastated the island sparing only 6 of 800 buildings.
The second church on this site was a wooden structure completed in 1848. As the church prospered, a rectory was added in 1857. The second church was destroyed in the Great Fire of Key West in 1886. By some good fortune the Rectory survived undamaged. Rebuilding the church began immediately and a third church structure was completed in 1887. This building, constructed of wood, stood in the center of town. In 1890, the church purchased its first bells. Once installed, the first chime of bells heard in the state of Florida rang out on Palm Sunday morning in 1891.
In 1909 another disaster struck and the church was destroyed by a powerful hurricane. Luckily the parish hall survived and was used for services. The rectory also survived the storm. After three building losses, plans for a storm proof structure were approved in 1911.
In an effort to protect the church from future tropical storms and fire, the structure was built primarily of solid concrete.
All images are taken with a Canon 5D III (full frame) and a Canon 7D II (crop frame) using a variety of Canon L-Series lenses, and Tamron and Sigma pro-line lenses; processed in RAW with ACR, PSC, Photomatix, and a variety of other imaging software.
All images are Copyright © 2016 Hany G. Jadaa; C.Chem. M.Sc. Eng.; and Copyright © 2016 Prince John Photography (the Artist). The material contained herein may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or downloaded in any way, shape or form. All rights are reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the Artist is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted under US, Canadian, European, and Australian Copyright laws.
Image is available for purchase at higher resolution and no copyright stamps upon request. Please contact the artist directly at pjphotography@uniserve.com
Uploaded
March 22nd, 2017
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