History of St John’s

Oregon was still a new state when the Oregon Diocese declared the southern coast a missionary district in 1870. It was a huge area with no roads, populated by a few farmsteads cut into the forests. Travel was overland by horseback, or stagecoach along the beaches. Missionary records tell of trips of 25 miles which took all day. Bandon was settled on the south side of the Coquille River and developed into a shipping center for lumber, fishing and dairy interests along the river. By 1898 some twenty seagoing vessels traded between Bandon and San Francisco.

There is an oral tradition of Episcopal services being held on Bandon beaches by 1870, but the first recorded service was held in 1885. When The Rev William Horsfall of Yorkshire, England, arrived on the south coast in 1889 as missionary, he found no permanent church buildings in his 2,400 square miles district. He soon began plans for such buildings, and the cornerstone of St John’s was laid in 1893. The building was sited high on a windy bluff overlooking the river and bustling little town, and had the first church bell in Bandon: the tone of the bell was so bad that local children called it "the cracked pot". By 1898 St John’s was the second largest Episcopal mission in the district.

William Horsfall served as missionary and Dean of the Southern Convocation 1889-1918 and had made his retirement home in Bandon at the site of the present high school. In 1921 his estate donated the lots where St John’s now stands, and the building of 1893 was moved to the site.

St John’s was formally organized as a mission in 1922.

Bandon’s great fire of 1936 destroyed most of Bandon, including St John’s building. The church had great difficulty reestablishing itself after the fire, for many people left town after the destruction. Services were held at the Legion Hall and the Ed Gallier residence.

Insurance covered only one-third of the replacement cost of the old building, the American Church Building Commission paid a part, and the congregation raised the remaining funds through pledges and loans. The new structure was completed in 1939, and memorial gifts of an altar and its necessary appointments were received from all over the country.

In 1946 The Rev Dan A N Bacot became vicar of St John’s. He began an active program for young people which included The Girls Friendly Society, a girls choir, a boys club, a high school group, junior high group, an acolytes program, a Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.

All this activity was too much for the limited space in the church, and in 1949 the parish hall was built with funds donated by the Sweet family, and named Theresa Hall as a memorial. In 1956 a classroom and library room were added, funded by the Sweet family as a memorial to Helen Sweet.

St John’s modern stained glass windows were added in the 1980's, produced by Bandon artisan John C Campbell on drawings produced by members. The theme for most of the windows is the seven sacraments of the Church. The tall windows in the narthex were added in 2007.

The Rev Canon Barbara Mudge had retired to Bandon and in 1999 was persuaded to become vicar. During her years as vicar the office addition was completed and the narthex expanded, funded by the Sweet and Cook families. Many music programs were offered to the community, and St John’s Preschool was begun. The popular preschool soon outgrew the church building and was relocated in 2008.

The missionaries and vicars who have served St John’s include Benjamin Wistar Morris, William Lund, William Horsfall, Fred Bartlett, William E Couper, Arthur W Bell, Horatio Gates, Hale B Eubanks, George R Turney, Charles F Guilbert, Richard B Bartlett, Robert L Greene, Daniel Ambrose Norton Bacot, Clyde W Everton, Robert Harvie Greenfield, Paul Wessinger, Peter Dally, M Ramsey Schadewitz, Robert Burton, Luther Williams, L Wayne Bond, James E Lloyd, Willis A Augsburger, Chandler C Jackson, Eugene C van Beveren, Lincoln Eng, David Sweeney, Barbara Mudge, Jo Miller, and Susan Hazen.

When St John’s first building was erected in 1893 it was named St John’s-by-the-Sea, informally shortened to St John’s. In 2005 Bishop Itty found the name to be unwieldy, and renamed the church St John.

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Copywrite 2008 and 2010 by Barbara Eakley