San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo 
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ST. STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1344 Nipomo Street, San Luis Obispo

History and Description:

The Episcopal Church was the first Protestant church to organize in this
slow-growing ranch town of San Luis Obispo, so it is not unusual that the St.
Stephen's Episcopal Church became one of the oldest structures in the city and
one of its most famous landmarks.

The story of its creation is a story of a community that has endured to present
day, and it all began in August, 1867, when Dr. W. W. Hays called together a
group of Episcopalians and organized the first vestry. In September of that
year, the formation of a new parish was approved by Bishop Ingram Kip and plans
for the new structure began to take shape. After much deliberation, a lot on the
corner of Pismo Street and Nipomo Street was purchased for ten dollars which was
hand-paid in gold.  Three thousand dollars was collected to pay for the building
which was later completed in October 1873.

St. Stephens was a steep roofed little building, built of California redwood and
hand-hewn Cambria pine beams. It is the Carpenter Gothic order of architecture,
extremely high pointed and will hardly accommodate a large number of visitors. 
It displays an unusually excessive amount of ornament on one side and its
dimensions appear scarcely suitable to any other purpose than that which it is
intended.

As all fine buildings should, St. Stephen's leaves much to offer posterity, for
every wall and window and ceremonial facility is marked with memorial plaques
recalling memory of generation-after-generation of families associated with the
church and its withered walls have become a favorite stop of visitors--that is
for visitors who came before January 26, 1970 when a fire, presumably due to
faulty wiring, started in a small room where vestments and equipment were stored.

Sources:
Louisiana Dart, Curator, San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum
Telegram-Tribune. "Centurama" May 1956
Telegram-Tribune, file on St. Stephen's Episcopal Church


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow


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