The Episcopal Church arrived in Colorado with many of the hopeful gold and silver miners in the middle of the 19th century. Father John H. Kehler traveled from Virginia to Denver City in January 1860, and delivered the first public services of the Episcopal Church in the area that would become Colorado territory. He eventually established the parish of St. John’s in the Wilderness in the series of mining camps that was called Denver City.
In 1887, Colorado became a self-sustaining diocese. The amount of territory in the diocese and the difficulty posed by traveling over it challenged many bishops; in fact, from 1892 to 1919, the Western Slope was a separate district, with its own bishop living in Grand Junction or Salt Lake City. Nonetheless, congregations were established and thrived in all parts of the state; St. Paul’s in Central City was established shortly after St. John’s in the Wilderness, and small Episcopal congregations popped up in rapidly growing mining communities across the state.
Colorado’s ten bishops have led the Church through national and local trials and tribulations, from the two World Wars, to the Depression, to the social turmoil of the 1960s and 70s, to the many economic booms and busts that Colorado’s economy has endured. Today’s Church is still challenged by distance, terrain and the diversity of communities it serves, but it remains One Body of Jesus Christ. According to long-time diocesan historiographer and historian Allen Breck, “Anyone reading the history of the Episcopal Church in Colorado is struck by the diversity within the Church and the many challenges and demands put upon its clergy and laity. But the record shows how innovative and resourceful the response has been.”
Sources:
Breck, Allen du Pont. The Episcopal Church in Colorado 1860 – 1963. Denver: Big Mountain Press, 1963.
Breck, “From Diversity to Unity: The Episcopal Church in Colorado.” 2000.
