Parish History

• January 6, 1842 – Organizing meeting held
• January 23, 1842 – First service held
• August 14, 1843 – Cornerstone laid
• May 1844 – Parish status achieved
• June 3, 1852 – Church building consecrated
• 1857 – Transepts, chancel, and tower added
• December 1858 – Epiphany Church Home to help the sick and the poor opened
• March 6, 1862 – President Lincoln attended the funeral of General Frederick Lander at Epiphany
• July-December 1862 – Church used as a hospital for Union troops
• February 1877 – First issue of the Parish Guide
• March 1880 – Epiphany Chapel in SW Washington opened
• April 1884 – Lenthall Home for Widows opened
• January 8, 1885 – Rector William Paret consecrated Bishop of Maryland here
• November 17, 1891 – Bishop Phillips Brooks preached to overflow congregation at opening session of Church Congress
• Spring 1893 – Epiphany’s choir becomes first mixed vested choir in the city
• 1893 – Endowment Fund began
• May 1895 – Maryland Diocesan Convention meeting here created new Diocese of Washington
• Palm Sunday 1896 – Bishop Satterlee confirms 50 candidates here as his first official act
• 1897 – Episcopal Eye, Ear, & Throat Hospital (later named Washington Hospital Center) began, largely funded by Epiphany
• 1898 – General Convention of the ECUSA met here
• 1901 – Memorial Services held for President McKinley and Queen Victoria
• January 26, 1905 – John J. Pershing and Helen Warren married here
• 1911 – Parish House dedicated
• September 29, 1923 – Rector James Freeman consecrated Bishop of Washington here
• March 4, 1925 – Epiphany’s bells rang for the inauguration of President Coolidge (and for every president since)
• 1942 – President Roosevelt attended Christmas service
• 1942-45 – Armed Forces Canteen and Wartime Prayer Center
• February 11, 1945 – Phillips Chapel dedicated
• 1959 – Beatrice Aitchison became first woman elected to the vestry
• 1967-68 – Renovation of church included air conditioning and extension of sanctuary area into nave
• March 3, 1968 – Epiphany’s fifth (and current) organ dedicated
• 1976 – Blessing of Metro Center Metro Station
• 1976, 90, 92 – Diocesan Episcopal elections held here
• 1987 – Concert of Remembrance for those who died of AIDS
• 1991 – Parishioner Pamela Chinnis becomes the third person from Epiphany and first woman to become President of the House of Deputies
• 1994 – Stand for Children service
• 1995 – Welcome Table outreach ministry began

The Epiphany Tower Chimes

The original Epiphany tower, built in 1857, contained a single bell. However, during the Civil War, it was removed and melted down for its metal. A new tower built in 1922 allowed for a chime of bells to be placed there as a tribute to the seventh rector, Dr. Randolph Harrison McKim.

These were the first true set of church bells in the city of Washington and contain 15 bells made by Meneely & Company of Watervliet, New York. The largest bell is the only one with an inscription: “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth Peace, Good Will Toward Men”.

The bells have been rung for the inauguration of every president from Calvin Coolidge onward. After President Truman’s inauguration in 1949 and President Eisenhower’s in 1953 and 1957, a recording of the bells was featured on national radio. Today, the bells ring on a regular basis chiming the quarter hours and hymn-based peals on Sunday mornings and weekdays at noon.