The Church of the Redeemer has been part of Pendleton since the city's earliest days.
The founding of the Episcopal Church in Pendleton comes out of frontier history. On Sundays, the saloons and stores were in high gear. Only a few women and children held Sunday school in the first courthouse or gathered when a circuit riding minister came through. Then in 1871 the Rev. Lemuel Wells came from Walla Walla, riding a handsome horse meant to impress the local men; and he rapped on the saloon doors to invite them to an Episcopal Sunday service. The women came but not the men who were still too enamored of their Sunday horse races.
The pioneer women persevered and in 1873 organized the purchase of lots two blocks east of Main Street where the present church stands. Their husbands irreverently called the squat brown building where they met "the Little Brown Jug." Wells finally leveraged a masculine convert to the church, a candidate for sheriff named Adam Nye who gambled, drank, and cussed like all the rest
Wells convinced him that setting an example of Christian conduct would be good for his candidacy. It took much coaxing, but Nye ultimately was baptized and became a pillar of strength at Redeemer.
When Rev. W.E. Potwine came to Pendleton in 1882, he found an Episcopal congregation still made up primarily of women meeting in the Little Brown Jug. He stayed 22 years, riding the circuit in Eastern Oregon. In 1897 he saw his dreams fulfilled when the cornerstone was laid for the present English Gothic-style church of stone and cedar shingle. The Church of the Redeemer in Brooklyn, New York was the benefactor of the new structure, and the Pendleton church became self- supporting.
Parishioners have long basked in the beauty of the interior with its upside down ark ceiling, wood paneling and vivid stained glass windows, two of them in the Tiffany style. The Brooklyn church provided the Christus Rex over the altar. It was carved by a noted woodcarver of Arlington, Massachusetts. A smaller version is over the healing altar.
The Parish House was added to the church proper in 1939, and the basement of the church was remodeled for Sunday school in 1949. There was further remodeling of the sanctuary in the late 1950's. Improvements in the past few years have included a new sound system, new furniture for the Parish Hall, a remodeled bathroom and new carpeting for the public rooms. A capital campaign was conducted in 2008 with contributions that equaled our annual budget.
Sixteen Rectors have served the church. The congregation on the whole deeply reveres its church, and there is solid participation in its activities.
The pioneer women persevered and in 1873 organized the purchase of lots two blocks east of Main Street where the present church stands. Their husbands irreverently called the squat brown building where they met "the Little Brown Jug." Wells finally leveraged a masculine convert to the church, a candidate for sheriff named Adam Nye who gambled, drank, and cussed like all the rest
Wells convinced him that setting an example of Christian conduct would be good for his candidacy. It took much coaxing, but Nye ultimately was baptized and became a pillar of strength at Redeemer.
When Rev. W.E. Potwine came to Pendleton in 1882, he found an Episcopal congregation still made up primarily of women meeting in the Little Brown Jug. He stayed 22 years, riding the circuit in Eastern Oregon. In 1897 he saw his dreams fulfilled when the cornerstone was laid for the present English Gothic-style church of stone and cedar shingle. The Church of the Redeemer in Brooklyn, New York was the benefactor of the new structure, and the Pendleton church became self- supporting.
Parishioners have long basked in the beauty of the interior with its upside down ark ceiling, wood paneling and vivid stained glass windows, two of them in the Tiffany style. The Brooklyn church provided the Christus Rex over the altar. It was carved by a noted woodcarver of Arlington, Massachusetts. A smaller version is over the healing altar.
The Parish House was added to the church proper in 1939, and the basement of the church was remodeled for Sunday school in 1949. There was further remodeling of the sanctuary in the late 1950's. Improvements in the past few years have included a new sound system, new furniture for the Parish Hall, a remodeled bathroom and new carpeting for the public rooms. A capital campaign was conducted in 2008 with contributions that equaled our annual budget.
Sixteen Rectors have served the church. The congregation on the whole deeply reveres its church, and there is solid participation in its activities.