The "A Call From Denny" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking on the phone with Denny whom I have known since I was a young boy and a member of St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Denny was one year my junior and a member of the Sunday School class that consisted of quite a few young boys who tried their hardest to find a way to skip Sunday School after the morning church service ended.  Today Denny's call is to tell me about the neat photos that had been sent to him by another Sunday School escapee's daughter who works for the Lancaster County Historical Society.  Marianne searched the historical files and emailed 23 photos to her dad, Tom, who in turned sent them to Denny.  Denny is attempting to fill the halls of our parish house with photos from the past for a visit from our Bishop in the near future.  After seeing that one of the photos had a picture of my dad in it, he made the call to me.  Well, today Denny has sent me the photos and I had a grand time looking at them and trying to figure out when and where they may have been taken.  I pulled up a series of stories I published in 2014 titled "Searching for a Read" which I wrote while I was on the mend from my latest back surgery.  Found a series of books on the history of our church on the living room bookshelf and wrote the blog entries describing the history of our church which was began in 1744.  The black and white photos which follow all carry some history behind each one, so here goes …….

This was the original St. James Church that was built in 1744.  It was built of limestone and eventually had to be leveled because it was unsafe.  A new church was begun and on October 20, 1820 our present day church was consecrated.  Both churches stood at the same location at the corner of East Orange and North Duke Streets in downtown Lancaster, PA.

The current St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, PA.  There are two entrance doors showing here.   One in the center of the photo which is on East Orange Street while the other can be seen to the left on North Duke Street.

This is the North Duke Street entrance.  Eventually this opening was bricked in and the door was moved to the left side of the bell tower.  I'm not sure of the date that happened, but it happened before I was born.

This is a photo of Mr. George Rodgers who was the organist and choir director when my dad was a member of the boys choir of St. James Episcopal Church.  Mr. Rodgers began his tour of duty in 1910.  He had to give the bad news to my dad when his voice was beginning to change and he could no longer sing in the boys choir.  

This is a photo of the choir taken sometime in the late 1950's.  Mr brother Steve is in the second row, far right.  My dad is standing dead center in the back row.  My voice had also changed by this time in history and I was no longer able to be in the boys choir.  Both my dad and I eventually rejoined the choir as adults.

This was the old choir room which was attached to the side of the church.  

This is the altar end of the church which is directly in front of the church cemetery which was begun in 1762.  Two famous members buried in this cemetery are Rev. Thomas Barton and General Edward Hand.

Our iconic steeple.  I have been able to climb the wooden stairs a few times to reach the top and take photos.  There is now screening all around the openings in the top of the steeple to keep the pigeons and bats from entering.

This is our Parish House.  Notice the street in front in this photo is all brick.   Attached to the Parish House, on the right, is our Rectory where our minister lives.  In this photo it has a covered entrance which is no longer there.  This photo is probably from the early 1940's.

And, this final photo was taken at our Church Camp, Camp Rodgers, named for the choirmaster years ago.  The camp was originally on an island in the middle of the Susquehanna River.  I remember going to camp at that location when I was young.  Then that camp caught fire and was history.  A property in Lancaster county was purchased and became the new Camp Rodgers.  I also went to camp at this location in the mid to late 1950's.

Hope you enjoyed a look at a few historic photos from the past of St. James Episcopal Church.  I enjoyed looking at them, but then I have been a member for more than 60 years.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.