Early Churches
The majority of the settlers in the 1880’s and 1890’s were Christians. The largest portion being Baptists, Methodists, and Episcopalians. Since there were no churches, their opportunities for worship services were limited. Occasionally, traveling ministers would hold mission services in the settlement. These traveling ministers were given lodging in local homes.
St. Anastasia Catholic Church
The Story of St. Anastasia’s begins with the first Catholic residents. Thomas O’Brien, an Irish immigrant, came to Fort Pierce in 1879 and worked as a clerk in Capt. Benjamin Hogg’s newly opened general store. The store was later purchased by Peter Cobb, at which time O’Brien entered the fishing business with another local gentlemen named Ransom R. Ricou. O’Brien later married Courtney Raulerson, the daughter of a successful cattleman, and he became a leader in the local Catholic community. On February 2, 1901, T. J. O’Brien’s signature was among the fifty-three people who acted to incorporate the city of Fort Pierce. He also was a member of the first grand jury and a stockholder of the local ice factory.
The first Catholic Mass in Fort Pierce was celebrated at the O’Brien home (west of 10th Street and South of Orange Avenue) in 1903. By that time the Catholic community had grown beyond the O’Brien and Ricou families. In 1906, the Reverend Michael J. Curley, pastor of St. Peters in Deland, began to making bi-monthly visits to Fort Pierce. His work here included saying Mass, instructing the children, and preaching in the City Hall. Fr. Patrick J. Bresnahan was another priest who served the people of the area by conducting two missions in Fort Pierce in 1906. Fr. Bresnahan also officiated at the first Catholic baptism, that of Sam Wilbur Head, on January 7, 1906.
Senator James P. McNichol, a Catholic statesman from Philadelphia and a winter visitor, was the first great benefactor of the Catholic Community of Fort Pierce. McNichol purchased a block of land on the western edge of the city and donated it for the construction of a church, rectory and school. The wood-frame church was begun in 1908 and seated 125. The parish was named St. Anastasia, in honor of the patron saint of McNichol’s deceased first wife Anastasia.
On December 4, 1910, almost two years after the completion of St. Anastasia’s Church, Fr. Rupert Gabriel arrived to become the parish’s first pastor. Fr. Michael McNally, a Catholic historian, writes, “Parishioners remember Fr. Gabriel as a kindly man, generous, articulate, with a sense of humor and high value of education…Besides being pastorally concerned with his scattered Catholic flock, Fr. Gabriel was well known among Protestant businessmen, lawyers, and doctors. He was well liked not only by Catholics, but by Protestants as well.”
With a new pastor, and with Senator McNichol continuing as a financial benefactor of the parish, the second decade of the 20th century was a time of growth and prosperity for St. Anastasia’s. The parish became the center of missionary activity for the region, and the many mission churches visited by Fr. Gabriel later became independent Catholic parishes we know today:- St. Joseph’s of Stuart and St. Helen’s of Vero Beach, among others. St. Anastasia’s two-story school was built next to the church in 1914 and a convent was built to house Dominican sisters who would come later to teach there. When the first church became infested with termites and was subsequently torn down, a chapel was set up in the school from October 1923, until December 1924, for parish Masses. During this time a larger church was built on the site of the original St. Anastasia. Finally in the fall of 1926, three Dominican sisters arrived from Michigan to teach and administer St. Anastasia School for the parish.
On Christmas in 1924 the first Mass was said in the new church building and the first Baptism was on January 11, 1925: Katherine Margaret Ricou. Her parents were from the Ricou and Sullivan families and one of her sponsors was a son of Thomas J. O’Brien.
Posted From HISTORY ALIVE, Volume II-1999 a publication of Saint Lucie County Historical Commission. All rights reserved. Abstract of Article titled: The Old St. Anastasia School at 8th and Orange Avenue by Lisa Bell
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
In 1891 the only Episcopalians in Ft. Pierce were Judge Andrew James Lewis and his daughter Rosa, John Hetherington, Wallace Tolcher Harbin and Frank M. and Emaline Rachel (Smith) Tyler who operated the Fort Pierce Hotel. These friends held lay reader services in the parlor of the hotel, the Masonic Hall and also the First Baptist Church. At times the Venerable B. F. Brown, Archdeacon of this area, and other clergy conducted the services. When the railroad came in 1894, more and more Episcopalians arrived. Among these was Mary DeBogary a school teacher who had come to Florida with her Russian parents in 1876. She married Edward Clarence Summerlin in 1897. Mary devoted much of her energy toward the development of the Episcopalian mission in Fort Pierce.
Those faithful pioneers who attended the early services succeeded in acquiring a 2piece of ground, donated by Mr. A. C. Dittmar. Located on the west side of Pine Street, which is now known as North Second Street, between Palmentto Avenue (Ave. A.) and Moore’s Creek.. With a little outside assistance and some local donations, Frank Roylance a local builder was able to erect a church building which was completed in 1902.
With the consent of the Bishop. Mrs. Tyler named the Church, St. Andrews. As the town grew, new names were added to the congregation, among them the C. T. McCarty, the Tylander, the Saunders and the Paxton families. On March 13, 1902, Bishop Gray and Archdeacon Brown celebrated Holy Communion in the new building. In April of that year the first child baptized was John Alfred Summerlin, the son of Clarence and Mary DeBogary Summerlin.
In March 1905, Bishop William Crane Gray held the Easter services with the following in attendance.
Mrs. Almond
Mrs. Cross
Mrs. Geiger Campbell Gray
Mr. & Mrs. Harbin
Miss Hunter
Mrs. Lardner
Miss Moore
Mr. & Mrs Nesbitt
Mrs. Paxton
Mrs. Sample
Mr. Thompson
Mrs. Tucker
Mr. Tylander
Frank & Mary Tyler
Mr. Watts
Others who attended services that week were:
Miss Viola Cook
Mrs. Halliday
Mrs. Lane
Mrs. Summerlin
A permanent rectory was purchased on the river front, east of the old Fort Pierce Hotel. This property included riparian rights. When a group of investors decided to fill in the river front east of and adjacent to the rectory for the New Fort Pierce Hotel, St. Andrews joined them and had land pumped in also. In 1922 the church became a self supporting parish. In 1923 the church building was moved from where it was built to a riverside location on the new fill. A parish house and rectory were added in 1926; in 1933, the church building was enlarged, doubling the seating capacity.
The first vestry or “Bishop’s Committee” was composed of W. I. Nesbitt, Senior Warden; W. T. Harbin, Junior Warden; W. E. Tylander, Secretary and Treasurer. When the church first became a mission, the Reverend Campbell Gray, son of the Bishop, had just been ordained, St. Andrews was his first assignment.
Because the church expanded rapidly, the building became too small to accommodate the congregation. and plans were made for the construction of a larger one. Among the many influential parishioners was State Supreme Chief Justice Elwin Thomas, and another Supreme Court Chief Justice Alto Adams. The McCarty family has always been very active. The late Governor Daniel Thomas McCarty, was baptized there, served on the vestry and, after his sudden death in1953, was buried from the quaint, little, old frame building.
Due to the continued growth of the parish, a campaign was begun in April of 1956 for the erection of a new church building and the purchase of additional land. Young Robert Terry, Jr. an architect, drew the plans for the structure and ground was broken September 14, 1958. Construction was commenced at once. The first services were held on Easter Day, March 25, 1959. Some $200,000 was expended, not only on the new church, but on the repair and redecoration on existing buildings.
Old St. Andrews, bereft of memorial organ and stained glass windows, was presented to the Diocese, for use as a mission at Satellite Beach. On July 14, 1959, the frame building, which had served this community for fifty-six years, was placed on a barge and towed up the Indian River. Moved some sixty odd miles to its new location, where it was designated as “Holy Apostles’ Episcopal Church.”
The Methodist Episopal Church South
1896 Pioneer Members
Standing l-r: Lewis A. Depew, Madge Bell, A. P. Edge, Arthur Jennings, Gertrude Beville, Eddie Edge, Nellie Blizzard, Arthur Cole, Sadie Saunders, William Spencer, Frank Depew, Myrtle Jennings, W. H. Thomas. Center in black: Mrs. Grace Heartstone organist; Seated l-r: Helen Beville, Harry and Clarence Summerlin.
Although the Methodists held Sunday school classes as early as 1888, they did not organize until 1892. The first Sunday School and first sermon were held in a schoolhouse located on the southeast corner of what is now North Second Street and Avenue D, in what was the Edgartown. That first sermon was delivered by Captain H. B. Shaw of Ormond. Captain Shaw was a government lighthouse inspector. He liked to preach and did so at any opportunity, as he traveled up and down the coast. The first regular Sunday School was organized by Mrs. Jennings in 1889. She held these at a one room hut on Orange Avenue between Second and Fourth Street.
The first minister for the community appointed by the Annual Conference was Rev. M. P. Dukes, in 1892. The new congregation’s first baptism was that of a baby girl named Myrtle Jennings in 1893. Their first marriage was the union of Mr. Harry Harvey and Miss Clara Bronson on November 1, 1894. The assemblage began planning a church building. For a consideration of $1.00, A.C. Dittmar and his wife Cora H., land was conveyed to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. (Recorded in Brevard Co., Florida) Construction began at what would be described today as the 600 block of Fourth Street. This ambitious project had no hired contractor, those tasks were performed by Mrs. Jennie Jennings and Mrs. Lizzie McCarty. With an eye to the view and a desire to catch the ocean breeze, the church was built west of the railroad tracks and facing east. This Methodist Church, in the sand dunes of Edgartown, was completed in 1895. The first minister of this church was Rev. C. W. White. He served two years and was then replaced by Rev. W. B. Tresca.
After a few years, the need for a bigger church was identified. The pioneer congregation, as well as recent arrivals, began construction and a second church was built on North Second Street, just south of Moore’s Creek. This new more spacious church was completed in 1905. The sanctuary had beautiful stained glass windows, kneeling benches in the pews, the ambiance of this new church pleased the congregation. It served until 1926, when the Hendry Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South was constructed on the corner of Orange Avenue and Seventh Street.