Early History of Saint Barnabas Church

Our church began its life as the chapel of Saint Catharine’s Hall, an Episcopal girls’ school located on Augusta’s east side. Founded in 1886, Saint Catharine’s was housed in the former Redington mansion on the southeast corner of East Chestnut and Arsenal Streets.

After the Redington house was remodeled with a view to its new use, the trustees of Saint Catharine’s Hall arranged for the construction of a chapel to the south of the school’s main building. Its cornerstone was laid on Saint John the Baptist Day, June 24, 1886, and bore the inscription "Other foundations hath no man laid, than that laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). The school operated for approximately six years, but insufficient financing prevented it from ever achieving Diocesan status. According to Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church: A History:

The trustees of Saint Catharine’s Hall accepted an offer from the Committee of Affairs to sell the chapel building with furnishings for the sum of $500. [. . .]

In the spring of the year 1892, Mr. James Bridge, senior warden of St. Mark’s Church, Augusta, Maine, offered to give a lot of land 85 x 100 feet on the East Side of the City of Augusta, at the southwest corner of Bangor Street and Linden Street, with the provision that a chapel be placed upon it for the worship of Almighty God, according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church. As the Rev. Walker Gwynne, Rector of St. Mark’s Church, had for some time felt the growing need of religious service for those residents on the East Side who were prevented by distance and infirmity from attending any place of worship, he gladly welcomed the opportunity.

A new foundation was laid that included a good basement, and the chapel was drawn by horses to its new home. Three stained-glass windows broke during the move. The building was put in place, and the cornerstone of Saint Catharine’s chapel was encased in front of the new foundation.

In July 1892, the Rt. Rev. Henry Adams Neely, S.T.D., bishop of the Diocese of Maine, formally organized the Saint Barnabas Mission. Barnabas was chosen as the mission’s patron saint because he was a cousin of Mark, patron of Saint Mark’s Church on Augusta’s west side. Reverend Walker Gwynne, rector of Saint Mark’s, celebrated the first service at the chapel on Sunday, July 17, 1892.