Historic St. Paul's church in Virginia City picked for national grant program

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Virginia City is one of 13 churches nationwide to be selected for the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program that pledges funds toward saving historic churches.

The National Fund for Sacred Places picked St. Paul's and 12 others from a field of 178 applicants to participate in a national historic preservation grant-making program, according to announcement Wednesday by the organization.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a contributing property in the Virginia City Historic District. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

St Paul's Parish, founded on September 1, 1861, remains an active congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada. The building is a historic Carpenter Gothic-style Episcopal church located at F and Taylor Streets in Virginia City. It was built in 1876 to replace an earlier church that had burned down in 1875.

Entrance into the National Fund for Sacred Places gives St. Paul and other congregations access to money to help with any restoration. The Virginia City congregation plans to use monies from The National Fund for Sacred Places to replace the roof and repair the deteriorating walls and windows, said Chad Martin, Director of the National Fund for Sacred Places.

"St. Paul the Prospector joins a group that also includes three symbolically important congregations of the Civil Rights Era, one of only five churches designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the building that launched the first American architectural revival, and one of the oldest European-designed structures in the American West," said Martin.

The National Fund awardees for the 2018-19 program year also include the following:
— 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL
— St. Mary & Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, Nashua, NH
— Old First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, NY
— Arlington Street Church, Boston, MA
— Broad Street Ministry, Philadelphia, PA
— Patronato San Xavier, Tucson, AZ
— Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Milwaukee, WI
— First Congregational Church of Detroit, Detroit, MI
— First Presbyterian Church, Stamford, CT
— Nueva Vida Norristown New Life Mennonite Church, Norristown, PA
— Bright Star Church, Chicago, IL
— Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, Portland, OR

Launched in 2016 with grants totaling $14 million from the Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc., the National Fund — a program of Partners for Sacred Places and the National Trust for Historic Preservation — will offer planning grants, training and technical assistance and coaching, and capital grants ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 to about 50 congregations across the country over four years.

To date the National Fund has supported 44 projects in 29 states, representing 19 faith traditions and denominations. Grants awarded, now totaling over $2.9 million, have leveraged over $5 million in new funding for major building campaigns across the country.

2018-2019 applicants had to demonstrate the significance of their building’s religious architecture (projects selected represent outstanding examples of several building styles including Carpenter Gothic, Mission, Romanesque Revival and Mid-Century Modern), identify a restoration plan for areas of need, and outline a capital campaign that details internal fundraising efforts.

“We are thrilled to be supporting the congregations represented in this year’s cohort of awardees," said Martin. "With the addition of these thirteen congregations we continue to support projects in every region of the country and from an eclectic array of faith traditions and Christian denominations. Our support will make a real difference for these places. Our grant dollars will help make possible projects that range from urgent repair needs to protect public safety, to long-deferred maintenance that will ensure the preservation of landmark buildings for the next generation of American neighborhoods to use for the common good. We look forward to highlighting how these diverse places have been vital to the religious and cultural landscape of America’s history.”