1892
On the 29th of April 1892, Bishop Gray reached the Biscayne region, where so far as he could ascertain, “no Bishop had ever been, and only once had a Clergyman of the Church made a brief sojourn there.” Bishop Gray became at once the guest of Mrs. Julia D. Tuttle at Miami; and he expressed thanks in his convocation address to her "for the careful and painstaking way in which she had prepared for [his] visit, making it known far and wide, and arranging for the different services he was to hold, where to hold them, and placing her private launch at [his] disposal." On the 30th of April, in a schoolhouse at Lemon City, the Bishop had a Baptism and a Confirmation and celebrated Holy Communion. At night, he held service in the Union Church at Coconut Grove, 13 miles farther down the bay. He regarded the prospect as "certainly good for the Church in this whole region, provided the ground be occupied at once." He spent an entire week visiting among the people, far and near, "by land and by water, visiting them in their homes, talking to them, instructing them, preparing some for Baptism and Confirmation, and in every way possible endeavoring to improve the opportunity before [him]." He stated, "I ascertained that in a large portion of this region the number of Church people, or those who have been more or less under the influence of the Church, is greater than that of any other religious body, and they are very anxious to see the Church established in their midst."
The Beginning of the Episcopal Church in the Miami Area by Edgar Legare Pennington, S.T.D.
Reprinted with the permission of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Inc. from The Church in Story and Pageant, Publication No. 70, March-May 1941, Church Missions Publishing Company, Hartford, Connecticut; found in Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida. Volume 1, number 54, pages 41-42 Schoolhouse at Lemon City. 1922. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
December 3, 1893
The first of December was partly spent examining possible locations for the church at Coconut Grove. Lots were offered by different parties; but the bishop was not quite satisfied. He held services again that evening at Coconut Grove; two days later he had a Baptism in the country, after which he held services in the Methodist Church, preached, confirmed four persons, and celebrated the Holy Eucharist. That evening (December 3rd), he held service and preached in the residence of Julia Tuttle, at the mouth of the Miami River, occupying the spot which used to be Fort Dallas. The Bishop foresaw the prospects of development through the anticipated extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, and he felt that a clergyman should be provided for Biscayne Bay as soon as means were forthcoming ….
These entries are very significant. They show the promptness with which Bishop Gray undertook the planting of the Church in remote and neglected areas; and specifically, they furnish the dates of the initial services in Lemon City, Coconut Grove, and Miami.
Tequesta, page 43
Portrait of Julia D. Tuttle - Miami, Florida. 1890 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
1895
John Sewell, sent by Henry Flagler to represent his interests in Miami and to lay out the town, gives a delightful account of one of the best ships early visits to Miami... “She [Miss Fannie Tuttle] wanted me to go with her in her launch to Lemon City to hear some Episcopal bishop preach and she was going to bring the bishop back with her and he would preach in the Congregational tent that afternoon. She stated in the note that, if I could not go, she would like to borrow my light rowboat called the May, as she feared the water was so low in the bay that her launch could not get to the dock at Lemon City. I wrote her in reply I was sorry that I could not go, but she was welcome to the May, and that I would hear the bishop that afternoon in the tent. About 3:30 that afternoon I strolled over to the tent. I found the bishop sitting on the preacher's stand, Mrs. Plass was at the organ, and Miss Tuttle and the bishop's secretary were sitting in the choir seats—only the four in the tent. The bishop rose and said that ‘We have a preacher, an organist and choir, and one for a congregation and that we had better begin the service.’ I rose and asked him if he was going to preach and he answered in the affirmative. I told him just to wait a few minutes, and I would get him a congregation, there was no use of his wasting a sermon on me. He said that he was afraid to let me go for fear that I would not come back. Miss Tuttle assured him that I would come back, and he agreed to wait. “First thing that I did was to go over to Avenue D where there was a pool room with the crowd of men playing pool. I told the men that ran the pool room to close up the pool room right then and for the whole bunch to go across the street to the gospel tent, as there was a preacher over there who wanted to preach and had no congregation and that I was not going to have a preacher and go away and said that he could not get a congregation to preach to. So, they closed the pool room, and the men began to file out and go over to the tent. I went to the cold drink stands and gave them the same spiel. So, they closed up shop and went to the church. And I went to our quarters in the Miami Hotel, where a great many of us were kind of camping then, and went up and down the halls giving the same spiel.... some of the men that were asleep on their cots didn't take to the idea of getting up and going to church. Those of that class I turned their cots over and spilled them out on the floor and the shock woke them enough to know that I meant business. So they quietly dressed themselves and went to church.... Altogether I sent between twenty-five and forty out of the hotel. Then I went around to the tents and shacks looking for a congregation and sent all that I found to the tent.” When Mr. Sewell returned to the tent, he found Bishop Gray enthusiastically leading his somewhat lethargic but large congregation and song and preparing to preach to them. The response from the more established members of the community must have been heartening, for soon after his visit the bishop decided to place a priest in the Biscayne area.
John Sewell, Memoirs and History of Miami, Florida (Miami: Franklin Press, Inc., 1933), p 6, pp. 10-11, 112-115 cited in Joseph D. Cushman, Jr., The Sound of Bells: The Episcopal Church in South Florida, 1892-1969 (Gainesville, FL: the University Presses of Florida, 1976), pp. 81-82
June 12, 1896
Bishop Gray had been increasingly impressed with the need of a resident clergyman in the Miami area; and at last, the opportunity presented itself in the Reverend Henry Dunlop…. In May 1896, Bishop Gray made arrangements to take Mr. Dunlop with him to Biscayne Bay. On the 10th of June, Mr. Dunlop joined the Bishop at Jacksonville; and the following day the feast of St. Barnabas-the Bishop held an early celebration at Mrs. Julia Tuttle's house in Miami. After breakfast, Bishop Gray went with Mr. William Mark Brown, who had become a resident of Miami, over most of the town; and he decided to ratify Mrs. Tuttle's choice of a lot for the Miami church. Officers were appointed, as well as a committee, to raise funds for building the church edifice. On the 12th of June, the Bishop went with Mr. Brown and measured the church-lot, locating a place for a temporary church in the middle, leaving space to be beautified. He marked the spot with a cross, and took possession in the name of the Blessed Trinity, calling the new church by that name. “The building is to commence at once; our church to be the first one in Miami, a notable fact. I held first public religious service in Miami three years ago.”
Tequesta, page 49
1897
On the 5th of May 1897, Doctor Higgs visited Miami. He "drafted plans for a Mission Church under the direction of Mr. Brown, architect." The following Sunday, he read Morning Prayer, preached, and administered the Holy Communion; he held a mission service in the afternoon, and addressed the congregation on the subject of organizing a Sunday-school. During this visitation, he baptized two infants and administered the Holy Communion in private once; he held two private services and made twenty-eight visits. June 11th, Doctor Higgs was again in Miami. On Trinity Sunday (June 13th), he read Morning Prayer, preached, and administered the Holy Communion. He also opened a Sunday school. On the 13th, he organized a Ladies' Aid Society; delivered one address; administered the Lord's Supper once in private; and baptized three adults and one infant. He likewise made arrangements for a houseboat for Father Huntington, who had been at work in the Missionary Jurisdiction, and had promised to labor in the Miami area from October 1897 to January 30th, 1898. Doctor Higgs visited Coconut Grove and met some of the communicants there. He made fifteen visits at Miami. Doctor Higgs returned August 18th, his main object being an endeavor to secure a building for the church at Coconut Grove, known as the "Union Church." He made four visits and spent one night at Coconut Grove. On August 22nd, he read Morning Prayer and preached at Trinity Mission at 11 A.M. Afterwards he took a steam launch, with twenty-six people, to Coconut Grove. On August 22nd, he read Morning Prayer and preached at Trinity Mission at 11 A. M. Afterwards he took a steam launch, with twenty-six people, to Coconut Grove. There he read Evening Prayer and preached. On that day, he went to Buena Vista (north of Miami) and made one visit. Thence he drove to Lemon City and made a couple of visits. In all, thirty-two visits were made by him. A choir was organized at this trip at the Trinity Mission. Progress was quite evident in the Bay Biscayne region.
Tequesta, pages 51-52
1916
Meanwhile Trinity Church continued to grow. By 1900 there were 107 baptized members in the congregation; Five years later the number had grown to 258. In January 1905, Trinity became the first mission to be admitted by the convocation as a self-supporting parish since the organization of the Missionary Jurisdiction in 1893. The original frame structure naturally was enlarged several times as Trinity's congregation grew, but by 1912 the community and the parish had grown so much, and the number of winter visitors had so increased that the old church had to be torn down. The congregation began to erect a larger concrete building, the first ecclesiastical edifice of masonry construction in the city. The church was finally finished in 1916, but even at its completion there were indications that the new structure would soon be too small.
The Sound of Bells, page 84
1922
Nearly every Episcopal parish and mission in South Florida was affected by the influx of people and by the acceleration of economic development. These churches shared in the growth and prosperity of the peninsula. The churches in the city of Miami, like the community in which they were set, experienced the greatest growth and as a result embarked on the largest construction program. This was especially true of Trinity Church, Miami's only downtown parish.
Trinity Church, the second building to bear that name, was the first stone church to be erected in the city. It was completed in 1916. Soon after it was occupied by the parishioners, however, the church was deemed too small to take care of its regular congregation and the increased number of winter visitors. The parish was faced with all the problems of a downtown church. Situated in the heart of the commercial section, it had no parking facilities for the ever-growing number of automobiles. The congestion and noise of its surroundings made the conducting of services difficult. Then, too, the church had ceased to be in the geographic center of its congregation, which in recent years had been moving farther and farther out into residential areas. Consequently, the vestry of the parish decided in 1922 to sell the downtown property and construct a new church near the center of the largest Episcopalian population in the Miramar section of the city. Vestry also made plans for extending the reach and activities of the church by purchasing what it hoped would be the first in the series of land parcels in other sections of the city for the site of future chapels, a plan that may have been modeled on the Chapel system of Trinity Parish in the City of New York. The vestry executed its plans in the spring of 1923 when it sold the downtown property for $275,000 and subsequently part purchased two church sites for $80,000--one on Bayshore Drive at NE 16th St. for the parish church and the other at SW 13th Ave. and 2nd St. for a Chapel, which was built later under the name of the Chapel of the Holy Comforter. Designed by one of the most promising Florida architects, H. Hastings Mundy, in a modified Renaissance-Mediterranean style and resplendent with mosaics and a rose window, new Trinity Church was to endure as one of the great monuments of boom architecture. Planned at an estimate of some $400,000 in 1923, the church officially cost the vestry over $70,000 more, because of the rising costs of building materials and labor. Unfortunately the additional $70,000 did not include the sum needed to complete the interior, which was meant that much of the sculpture, mosaic, and glass work was left unfinished when the congregation moved into the new church in 1925.
Joseph D. Cushman, Jr., The Sound of Bells: The Episcopal Church in South Florida, 1892-1969 (Gainesville, FL: the University Presses of Florida, 1976), page 158
Demolition of old Trinity Episcopal Church building - Miami, Florida. 1925. Gleason M. Romer, Miami-Dade Public Library’s Helen Muir Florida Collection.
1923
When the hands of Harold Hastings Mundy started to design plans for Trinity Episcopal church in Miami many thoughts crowded into his mind. He thought of the church not so much as a meeting place but as a “being” place. He thought of the building as symbolical of all of that for which the Christian faith has stood through the centuries and of that for which it stands now in the 20th century thought.
Thinking and sketching he was reminded of many kinds of churches he had seen in years of travel. You remember the little Chapel of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, a tomb chapel, with symbols of early times. He thought of Byzantine types of churches such as San Vitale of Ravenna and St. Theodore of Athens, of the beautiful side of the cathedral at Rheims and Romanesque St. Remi with wide nave and magnificent vistas. In his minds review past Amiens, classical Byzantine St. Sophia in Constantinople and Saint Peter’s at Rome, renaissance type with dome that came from the hand of Michelangelo.
We had stopped to talk about hands but now we got back to the subject of the church. Mr. Mundy spoke of the panels on each side of the main entrance, the decoration being palms and lilies symbolical of Easter and the resurrection. Proportions of the church and general idea of it he said were inspired by the old church of St. Giles in France, near Nimes and sacred to the memory of the Athenian prince who became a hermit-priest.
Grace Stone Hall, Hands and a Cathedral Linked In This Man’s Performance, The Miami Daily News (Miami, Florida) Sunday, April 4, 1926, page twelve—second edition
West Portal of the Abbey Church, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gilles,_Gard#/media/File:West_church_portal_in_St-Gilles-du-Gard.jpg>, West church portal in St-Gilles-du-Gard.jpg, October 2006, originally uploaded by Jmalik, 13 September 2007, accessed on 9 August 2025
Trinity Slide side View Page 1, unknown photographer, History Miami
1924
Ground was broken for the new church in July, 1924 and plans were made for it to be completed by February 1, 1925. By adopting a heavier building program, which consisted of a more elaborate architecture than originally specified, it was impossible to finish it last February.
Trinity Church Ready, The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) Monday, September 21, 1925, page 12-A
Trinity SW View under Construction, unknown photographer, History Miami
1925
Exterior View:
Street View of Trinity Episcopal Church.
The cornerstone of the new building was laid on March 10, 1925, well after ground was broken. The construction took longer than expected, due to the complexity of the design. The first service was not held until September 27, 1925.
Gleason Waite Romer. Helen Muir Florida Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Miami-Dade Public Library System
Interior View, looking East
When complete, the church did not have stained glass windows, altar rail, baldacchino, chandeliers, or mosaics. The altar from the old church was salvaged for temporary use.
Trinity Episcopal Church: Interior, looking towards Altar. 1925.
Gleason Waite Romer. Helen Muir Florida Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Miami-Dade Public Library System
Interior View, looking West
The George A. Fuller Construction Company was the general contractor for the church building. The Rose Window at the center of the photo was dedicated to Julia Tuttle and was the only stained-glass original to the building. Also, a rear gallery seating area was constructed to accommodate large services.
Trinity Episcopal Church: Interior, looking towards entrance. 1925.
Gleason Waite Romer. Helen Muir Florida Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Miami-Dade Public Library System
1926
The interior decorations, including the sanctuary and the baldacchino (the marble canopy over the altar) were designed and executed by the Willet Studios of Philadelphia.
Willet Studios
Miami News January 4, 1925
TRINITY CHURCH FOLLOWS STYLE OF OLD WORLD
Main Nave Has Vaulted Ceiling 57 Feet High of Steel Construction
SEATING CAPACITY IS MORE THAN 800
Early Christian and Byzantine Features Adopted For Miami Edifice
Set in a spacious garden between N. Bay Shore drive and Biscayne bay, the monumental Trinity Episcopal church, now approaching completion, lends a tone of old world mysticism to the ultra modern Miramar district. Designed by H. H. Mundy, is latest of Miami's House of worship has features that set it apart from others. The main nave, 200 feet in length and 64 feet wide, has a vaulted ceiling 57 feet high: these proportions being made possible by modern steel construction which eliminates the necessity of building wide side-aisles with columns to help carry the load. In the Trinity Episcopal church the side-aisles are narrow and designed merely to be passage-ways, the center nave, with a seating capacity of 850, accommodating the entire congregation.
Mr. Mundy asked to name the architectural style he had followed, said that it might be called early Christian or early Byzantine, as it is a modern interpretation of the churches built in the 5th and 6th centuries, many examples of which are still to be found in southern France and Italy, and more especially in the Levant where they have been somewhat transformed architecturally by the Turkish conquerors who converted them into mosques, adding minarets and other typically Oriental features. This type of church, he said, marks the third stage in the development of Christian houses of worship, which originally consisted of the adaptations of Roman basilicas, and later took the cruciform design. The tower, he explained, came several centuries later, but has been used in this case owing to its almost universal appeal as a necessary adjunct to a House of God.
In plan, the Trinity Episcopal church comprises a wide nave terminating with the sanctuary in the apse, the side-aisles continuing around the apse as an ambulatory permitting processions around the entire interior, and also giving access to the sacristy, choir and other church rooms. The chancel has provision for a choir of 60, and in the apse ample vestry rooms, choir rooms, and a library and study are placed.
The Trinity Episcopal church has been properly Oriented according to ancient traditions, with the main facade to the west and the altar at the eastern end. The construction is a structural steel and hollow tile, covered with stucco of a warm buff color. A large rose window is a feature of a clearestory of the facade.
At the entrance there is a triple arched narthex, or outer vestibule, the design of this feature being inspired by an existing example in St. Giles, near Avignon, southern France. From this narthex, through massive doors of carved oak, entrance is had to a wide vestibule with vaulted stone ceiling and a carved oak grill on the side toward the nave. Over this vestibule is a balcony sitting seating 100 persons, which will be used to supplement the seating capacity of the nave. The echo-organ is also located on this balcony, in the rear of which are ushers’ rooms, women's reception room and the usual utilities.
The nave is 57 feet high with large windows in the cleare story over the side-aisles. These windows, and those of the side-aisles, will be provided with stained and painted glass of appropriate designs and subjects. The chancel in the apse is elevated four steps above the nave floor, and the sanctuary, one step above the chancel. The semidome ceiling of the sanctuary will be decorated with a mural painting of the Ascension. This dome, resting on marble columns will contain the main organ with most of its special divisions, comprising great organ, solo organ, swell organ, choir organ, echo-antiphonal organ and pedal organ augmented. This organ will have the latest style of electro-pneumatic console. The altar is of Carrera marble, sculptured by hand, and behind it is a marble and bronze rood screen. The sanctuary floor and the steps to the altar are of veri-colored marbles.
Opening from the north side-aisle near the chancel is the baptistry.
The tower is 118 feet high and in concordance with the remainder of the architectural scheme.
The total cost of the Trinity Episcopal church is expected to approximate $300,000 including the organ, whose price was $30,000 and the stained glass windows, estimated at a similar sum.
Miami Herald March 11, 1925
An impressive ceremony marked the laying of the cornerstone of the new Trinity Episcopal Church at North Bay Drive and Sixteenth Street. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ", read the inscription on the cornerstone.
CORNERSTONE IS LAID FOR TRINITY CHURCH
The Miami Herald, Wednesday, March 11, 1925
Rt. Rev. Cameron Mann, Bishop of South Florida, Officiates at Ceremony.
Bishop Cameron Mann, of Orlando, officiated at the cornerstone laying of the new Trinity Episcopal Church, N. E. Bayshore Drive and Sixteenth street yesterday afternoon. He was introduced by the Rev. Robert T. Phillips, rector. Edward C. Hume, junior warden, assisted in the placing the cornerstone.
A full vested choir led by Miss Bertha Foster furnished special music. The songs were “Church Building and Consecration,” and “The Church Militant.”
Officials of the church are vestrymen, Judge F. B. Stoneman, senior warden; Edward C. Hume, junior warden; Johnson H. Pace, secretary; John W. Graham, W. L. Caler, Alfred E. Betts, J. H. Talley, F. M. Sheffield and J. Leonard Albury; Floyd L. Knight, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Harold Hastings Mundy, architect. Records of the church at N. E. Second avenue and Second street, which were placed in the cornerstone there in 1912 together with a brief history and other interesting data were put in a box which will be sealed up.
Bishop Mann stated that this ceremony which should have been held several months ago when the building was first started had to be delayed.
“The usual things said at a cornerstone laying are not necessary here today. You are already erecting a church that will be a credit to this congregation and to Miami. You do not need my advice on the style of architecture. You are to be complimented upon your achievement,” concluded the bishop.
Services will continue to be held in the old church until about May 1st, when the building committee plans to have it ready for occupancy.
Bishop Mann is making several other visits while he is on the East Coast. Today he will go to Fort Lauderdale. Next Sunday morning he will speak at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Coconut Grove, and in the afternoon he will visit Homestead.
Miami Herald September 13, 1925
An impressive ceremony marked the laying of the cornerstone of the new Trinity Episcopal Church at North Bay Drive and Sixteenth Street. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ", read the inscription on the cornerstone.
1. Trinity Episcopal Church 2. Central Christian Church 3. Lutheran Evangelical Church 4. Northside Baptist Church 5. Miami Beach Methodist Church 6. Buena Vista Methodist Episcopal Church 7. First Church of Christ, Scientist.
Of these seven church buildings, only numbers 1, 3, and 7 are still standing and Trinity is the only building with its original congregation. The Christian Science church has closed and the Lutheran Evangelical Church (also formerly known as Robertson Memorial Evangelical Church) is now home to a new Spanish-speaking evangelical congregation.
The Miami Herald, Sunday, September 13, 1925 page 1-I
MIAMI CHURCHES ARE ESTABLISHING NEW RECORD IN EXPANSION MANY NEW BUILDINGS
Cost of Construction in Miami District Estimated over $10,000,000.
By P. I. Johnston
Staff Writer for The Herald
With more than $10,000,000 estimated for the erection of new churches in greater Miami, local ministers and boards of trustees have planned their building programs to keep abreast with the other developments which have broken many records.
Including several church plants that have been completed within the past few weeks, those that will be finished early this fall and the contemplated structures that are planned to be put up during the next 12 months. Miami will doubtless set a new record for church building in the country.
Two of Miami's church edifices and plants will go down in history as new departures in the South—perhaps the entire country. The combination church and office building that has been announced by the First Baptist Church when completed will be the only type of that style church in the South.
But the Trinity Episcopal Church which will be opened to the public within the next few weeks will be the most attractive church edifice in this section. Keeping in mind the church plan of architecture and the location on the Bay, this plant in the Miramar section, surrounded by some of Miami's most beautiful palms and Australian Pines, has a setting that few churches here possess.
Along with the First Baptist announcement of its 23-story skyscraper came the program of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal, South, with plans for a combination building but different to that of the Baptists. The Methodist expect to build in three units, thereby maintaining the church effect entirely in the architecture.
On the northeast corner of N. E. First avenue and Third street the Methodists will erect an office building from which the revenue will be used for outside purposes. That is, no local expenses will be taken care of from this fund. They plan to build new churches in the Miami district and support missionaries at home and foreign lands.
It has been estimated that more than $40,000 will be realized every year as rental from the office building. Although no definite plans have been adopted, the structure will have at least 10 stories. Finances have practically been raised. Members of the local church and their friends have already pledged more than $250,000 for this purpose.
Anticipating a revenue of several thousands of dollars every year, members of the First Baptist Church and different organizations have already begun to support several missionaries in foreign lands until they now have nine representatives. In addition they are also sending young men and young women to seminaries in the South, preparing them for definite Christian service.
Actual work has been started on the First Baptist skyscraper. The present building, which would be considered new back in older communities, is being wrecked to give way for the foundation which will be started within the next few weeks. In the meanwhile services are being held in the Central Grammar School Building.
Miami, contrary to the general conception of folks back in Georgia and farther north, is one of the greatest churchgoing cities in the country. This is attested to by the fact that ministers and businessmen have realized that they must pull down the present buildings and make larger accommodations for the crowds that come and go.
During the summer months, while many churches and other places either have small congregations or have called off their evening services, all of Miami's churches are enjoying large attendances. This is true here where people come to what is known as the country over as America's great playground.
That Miami ministers are experiencing little trouble in financing their many building projects is seen in that men who have made their fortunes in Miami real estate are giving large sums for these building programs. Topping the list is one gift of $250,000. Ranging on down there can be found in every congregation people who are giving their thousands for the church work.
This has been made possible by generous gifts of land back in the earlier days in downtown sections. Realizing that churches should be in the midst of business, hotel and apartments sections, ministers and leaders of different churches have held to their downtown property until the land itself is valued far into the millions of dollars.
The first sect to make capital of its downtown location was the Catholic Church which has some of the best property in the business district. At the southeast corner of N. E. Second street and First avenue this congregation has erected one of the finest and largest churches in this part of the country. Only dedicated this past winter, several masses have to be held daily to accommodate the crowds.
Rather than hold to their N. E. Second avenue and Second street location which would have been too small the Trinity Episcopal sold out and moved to Miramar on the North Bayshore drive. There this church will be in easy reach of its membership as they have a new church already holding services in Riverside.
Other than the First Baptist, Trinity Methodist and the Catholics there are two other churches in the downtown district. They are the first Presbyterian and White Temple Methodist. Both of these churches will later on launch enlargement programs. The Presbyterians expect to erect a combination church and office building costing nearly $2,000,000 while the White Temple congregation contemplate either a new plant or additions which will cost approximately $1,000,000.
These plans already are being discussed by the respective boards of the two churches.
Taking Miami by districts, there will be found in the Miramar section a number of churches either just completed or under construction. Among them are the Central Christian, the Peace Evangelical and the Christian Science. The Westminster Presbyterian Church, although new, will be given additions to the already splendid equipment.
Up in Buena Vista and farther north, extending to Lemon City and to the northwest, have been planted some of the most modern types of churches. Recently the southern Methodists entered their new church. The Holy Cross Episcopal on N. E. Thirty-sixth street has plans underway to move farther north and build a larger auditorium and schoolrooms. The Northside Baptist is just finishing a big auditorium and educational plant on N. W. Second avenue and Fortieth street. Sunday school and B. Y. P. U. departments have already been in the departmental building while preaching was held in the basement. The Northside Pentecostal church on the northwest in the northwest has broken ground for a new church. At Lemon City the Baptists have a new church building under construction just in front of the Dade county agricultural high school.
Allapattah has grown so fast that a number of churches are rushing their plans for temporary buildings. Both Methodist and Baptist congregations are large. Out in Hialeah the Northern Methodists have a splendid church and recently added a community center feature which has greatly added to their Sunday school and young people's work.
Taking advantages of the year round outdoors possibilities for church and young people's services most of the churches are providing open air accommodations. Foremost among the plans already announced are those of the Congregational Church at Coral Gables which will include a pipe organ which can be played for an indoor services or outdoor concert. This will be ready by January 1.
Down in Coconut Grove the Bryan Memorial Methodist Church is being rushed to completion. This will be one of Miami's most attractive and perhaps most often visited churches because of its location fronting the Bryan home and because it is being made a memorial to the Great Commoner.
Riverside churches have likewise required considerable expansions and now with the widening of several streets it has become a serious problem about holding to their locations and allowing the streets to cut off their property or move back where there will be more room. Already the church plants are far too small for existing demands.
Among the new churches which will be finished for the winter season are the Seventh Day Adventist and Southern Spiritual. The Riverside Presbyterian on S. W. Third street between Fifteenth and Sixteenth avenues, is a new church. To the northwest, near Twenty-second avenue the First Presbyterian has started the mission which it is expected will eventually lead into a large church for that section. The Riverside Baptist S. W. Nineth avenue and First street has outgrown its present facilities and has begun to figure on a new building. Out on Grapeland boulevard just south of Southwest Eighth street is a small wooden structure which will soon be wrecked to give way to a $60,000 Baptist church.
And so the church extension program continues to push out with the population. Recent plans for the Larkins Baptist church are to get into Coral Gables near the $15,000,000 Miami University and erect a $100,000 plant. The supporters of that movement expect to have a church in keeping with the Coral Gables style of architecture.
Miami Beach, where the thousands of visitors and home folks go for their fun, has its churches. Leaders of these on the beach have been the Congregational and Methodists. Both have plants that are too small to accommodate the crowds that attend the Sunday services and the various weekday programs.
While it has been estimated that $10,000,000 is the figure of church buildings under construction or already planned, there is no question but that amount will easily be doubled within the next few months when based upon the continued progress and prosperity of church and people in Miami and vicinity.
Trinity in the News
Miami Herald September 21, 1925
Beautiful New Episcopal Edifice To Be Scene of First Service Next Sunday Morning; Architectural Designs of Early Christian Churches Have Been Carried Out.
Miami Tribune September 29, 1925
Miami News April 4, 1926
Architect H. Harold Mundy
