The church was consecrated by the Right Reverend Henry Benjamin Whipple, first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota. On Christmas Eve of 1869 the first worship service included the wedding of Miss Nellie Barrows and Captain Oakford.
On January 23, 1870, under the leadership of Senior Warden B.R. Palmer, the Parish of the Good Samaritan was formally organized. Many of Sauk Centre's founding families were among the more than fifty original members.
The Gothic Revival architecture, combined with the fifty-foot steeple on the east end of the building, brought a kind of old world charm to the frontier town. The stained-glass windows were shipped from Pennsylvania and hauled to Sauk Centre by ox team from the nearest rail point. Only the window in the sacristy is an original, given in memory of Mrs. Rachel Moore by her son Sauk Centre's founder, Alexander.
This small parish has had a strong ministry of music, under the leadership of Dr. John Carton Grant, organist and choirmaster for more than thirty years until his death in 1984. The Episcopal Choirmaster's Handbook, devised by Dr. Grant in 1957, is distributed nationwide and abroad. In 1964 Dr. Grant also began Good Samaritan's annual Festival of Lessons and Carols, an ecumenical Christmas celebration.
Throughout their history, Episcopalians have preserved the ideals and traditions of the Church. In such a reflection lies the value of history, for through it, we may remember and record the lives and loyalties of those who have come before us.
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