Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is considered one of the finest examples of English Gothic architecture in the United States. Erected in 1872, it was built of Iowa limestone and Indiana limestone trim. It features lancet windows, a compound lancet main entrance, buttresses, a large rose window, and a 131-foot tower topped with a spire. Inside, the cathedral features a complex structure of beams that resemble medieval roof timbering and painted stenciling in gold leaf on the ceiling above the altar. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the cathedral is home to a congregation founded in 1841.

Trinity Episcopal's origins date back to 1837 when the church services were held in the home of a physician Dr. John Emerson (Emerson, incidentally, was the owner of Dred Scott, the enslaved man at the center of the landmark 1857 U.S. Supreme Court case that denied U.S. citizenship to people of African descent). The congregation was officially established a few years later on October 14, 1841 and a small, wood-frame church was built on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets. A Gothic stone church was then built in 1853 at Fifth and Pershing Streets. It featured a rose window and was the first in Iowa to have an organ.

The first Episcopal bishop in Iowa, Rev. Henry Washington Lee, spearheaded the effort to build a new church, which he wanted to be a cathedral. After securing the funding for the project, he hired well-known church architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design it. Construction began in June 1867 and was completed in 1873. It was originally called Grace Cathedral but the name was changed to Trinity Cathedral in 1909 after it merged with Trinity Parish. The tower and spire were part of the original plan but were not built until 1998.

Baker, Deirdre. "Trinity Cathedral celebrates storied past with eye on future." Quad-City Times. June 2, 2017. https://qctimes.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/trinity-cathedral-celebrates-storied-past-with-eye-on-future/article_89a1ace3-50d0-5897-9396-c3d257f4146f.html.

"History of the Episcopal Church in Davenport." Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. June 28, 2013. https://qctrinity.org/category/beliefs-history.

Phalen, Mary Kay. "Trinity Episcopal Cathedral." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. December 24, 1974. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/e1bb77d2-d1fe-4322-b2f4-faabcf707b8e.