History

A brief history of Christ Church

Christ Church had its beginning in 1876, when a group of English foundrymen met in a pattern room of the Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company's shop for religious services in the fledgling town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Located on the banks of the Tennessee River, the town is at the southern end of the picturesque Sequatchie Valley, nestled at the foot of the Cumberlands. Under the auspices of St. Paul's Church in Chattanooga and with the guidance of Bishop Charles Todd Quintard, Christ Church became a parish in May of 1887. In those early years, the people of Christ Church were led by a group of hard-working, committed young men; Joseph Lodge was among them. In the subsequent one hundred twenty-seven years, the descendants of Joseph Lodge have continued the building up of God's kingdom and our Episcopal heritage with other hard-working, committed men and women in the Sequatchie Valley.

Bishop Quintard asked the building committee to 'put up a graceful and churchly building,' and the people in South Pittsburg certainly complied with his request. The gracious, white frame building has wood paneled ceiling and walls, lovely stained glass windows and handsome furnishings. The church was completed, debt-free, in 1884; the first rectory in 1888; and the Parish Hall about 1889. In 2002, the historic nave underwent an exquisite restoration - the wood interior, walls, trim and ceiling, and the pews, which are original, were refinished and now gleam with a luster and patina that had been lost to a hundred plus years of coal-and oil-burning furnace residues. Improved lighting and new carpeting and pew and kneeling-rail cushions enhance the beauty of the graceful and churchly building built by the loving hands of the forefathers of Christ Church.