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Stories from our Past
With the centennial celebration of our building coming up on September 20, the Centennial Committee will be sharing stories from this past century at Trinity to remind us of our legacy and to inspire us as we move into the next hundred years.
As the first Episcopal church in Tulsa, by the 1940s, our attendance was incredibly healthy. So much so that our fifth Rector, Dr. Edward Eckel, envisioned four new churches to Trinity’s north, south, east and west, to be named after the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Over the next decade, this dream gave birth to St. John’s to the south, St. Mark’s (now St. Aidan’s) to the north, St. Matthew’s to the west in Sand Springs, and St. Luke’s to the east.
The dedication to the establishment of these congregations was such that parishioners living a certain distance from Trinity were compelled to attend these four new churches. Legend has it that Dr. Eckel’s wife, Emily, would stand on Trinity’s steps with a clipboard on Sunday mornings, making sure that the designated families were going to the correct church!
To this day, the parishioner relationships and service partnerships between these original sister congregations has provided a strong foundation for the Episcopal Church’s growing presence in the Tulsa area.
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