About Trinity Episcopal Church (Parkersburg, West Virginia)
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Trinity Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia. Records indicate that Episcopal services were conducted as early as 1815 by itinerant clergymen, but there was not a building so services were conducted in the county court. In 1843, the Rt. Rev. Wm. Meade, Bishop of Virginia, sent the Rev. Tho. Smith to be the vicar of a small congregation. The church property was given by John Snodgrass, a member of congress from this district. The first church's building began in 1846, and Rev. Smith died at age 48, before its completion. He was buried, by his request, under the front steps. He felt he was "a poor sinner and wanted to be trampled under the feet of all who entered." The first church was completed in 1850, with the rectory built in 1863, and occupied until 1919, when it was turned into office buildings and Sunday school rooms. The old church was torn down in 1878, and the present building completed and consecrated in 1879. The church's foundation stones come from Quincy Hill quarry. In 1913, the church was flooded and pews were taken up and stored higher, but the organ, furnaces and floor was destroyed. Another flood occurred in 1937, however, this one was not as severe, yet the pews were replaced.
