The beginnings...the building

It started with a meeting at 1009 Bourbon Street, in the original city now known as the French Quarter, right after the Louisiana Purchase. That acquisition (which doubled the size of the United States) comprised parts of 15 states and two Canadian provinces. It was felt by some to be threatening to the peace and prosperity of the country, because of the likelihood that the priorities of the new citizens of the West would probably be different from people in the Northeast. There was also a question as to whether people in New Orleans should even be granted citizenship in the United States!

New Orleans became the capital of the Territory of Orleans (which included most of the current state of Louisiana). The Spanish had forbidden any church services except those of the Roman Catholic Church. But now, as a part of the United States, there was much more freedom regarding church practice. With the opening of the new territory, many easterners came searching wealth and adventure. Many were Protestant, and some actively campaigned for the founding of a new Protestant church.

And so it began. Fifty-three people gathered to discuss starting a Protestant church…and most voted to have it be an Episcopal one. In November 1805, the first Protestant service in the Louisiana territory was held at the Cabildo.

You are not looking at the original Christ Church, which was built in the early 1800’s. This is the FOURTH Christ Church. All three prior buildings were on Canal Street (the edge of the original city). Some elements of the early churches are still in use today; some here, some in other Episcopal churches, and some in Touro Synagogue just up Saint Charles Avenue! We’ll talk about some of those elements later.

This fourth Christ Church was designed in the Gothic style, like many Christian cathedrals in the United States and Europe. Notice that the arches and windows are “pointed” at their tops There’s a tower to the right of the main doors. The tower used to have a steeple on top of it. But a hurricane in 1915 blew it down; it was never replaced. The covered area just in front of the doors is called a “narthex;” in some churches, the narthex is just inside the entry door. Go through the main doors into the Cathedral.