On Sunday, Feb. 12., Rt. Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee visited the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion in Lake Geneva. He dedicated and blessed the new National Register Plaque of the Episcopal Church.
New National Register Plaque
Aside from the mass and the celebration of the congregation's namesake Holy Communion eucharistic rite, Rt. Rev. Lee also blessed the new National Register of Historic Places marker of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion. The plaque was recently placed on the main entrance of the parish. The Episcopal Church was included on the National Register of Historic Places after being nominated by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the United States Department of the Interior. A historical brass plaque was installed to commemorate its accomplishment.
As mentioned, after the opening procession to the hymn "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus," the altar party stepped outside into the mild winter sunshine for a dedication blessing of the anonymously-funded National Register plaque. It was led by the cross-bearing crucifer David Collins, the Parish Rector Rev. Liz Meade, and Senior Diocesan Deacons Regs Scheeler and Lee.
Rt. Rv. Lee gave "praise and thanks" to God as he traced the plaque on its four borders using his hooked crozier bishop's staff. He prayed that the National Register plaque would symbolize the legacy and hope of the gospel. Lee also hopes the church will continue to prosper and develop as a testimony of God's love. Accordingly, the congregation was established in 1844. After 24 years of fundraising efforts, the parish constructed its current Early Gothic Revival-styled cut native granite and limestone church, costing around $12,000 at 320 Broad St. between 1880 and 1882.
Based on a report from the National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic places worthy of preservation in the United States. It is part of a national program to organize and assist public and private efforts to appraise, locate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources. It also had official permission from the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
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Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion
According to its website, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion is one of the earliest Episcopal congregations in Wisconsin. It was relocated to its current Lake Geneva home in 1880, two blocks from the water.
Before the arrival of Fr. John McNamara on Sept. 29, 1849, the initial services were led by the Right Reverend Jackson Kemper, the first Episcopal Bishop in Wisconsin. Accordingly, the Episcopal community in Lake Geneva was established in March 1844 in Bloomfield Township. It was served by Episcopal priests-in-training from the Nashotah Seminary in Delafield. Moreover, the Episcopal Church in Geneva was reportedly founded by McNamara in honor of his home church in New York City.
McNamara's time in Lake Geneva was highly fruitful. In 1857, he arranged for the wooden Presbyterian Church building after the First Congregational Church to be moved west across Broad Street to become the first church of the Holy Communion structure. He oversaw the construction of the church's first permanent structure on the land it had purchased at the northwest corner of Broad and Geneva street.
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