Saint Luke's Episcopal Church

Saint Luke's Episcopal Church. Calhoun County. John D. and Anna Maria Hoke founded the parish on June 30, 1844. Members of the Hoke, Forney, and Abernathy families joined over the years. The church design was based on Richard Upjohn's 1852 pattern book, Upjohn's Rural Architecture. Upjohn was the architect of Trinity Church in New York City and Founder of the American Institute of Architects. Elbert Green constructed the church from 1855-1856 at a cost of $2200 using enslaved African-American laborers. The Rt. Rev. Nicholas Hamner Cobbs, Bishop of Alabama, consecrated the building on January 4, 1857. , The church was constructed in the Carpenter Gothic Revival style and built using heart pine and board-and-batten. The church was fully furnished according to Upjohn's plan. Sharp and Steel of New York made the altar windows, and they remain as fine examples of stained glass from the antebellum period in Alabama. The elaborate central chandelier was a gift believed to be from the Roosevelt family, and it originally burned whale oil. Saint Luke's is the oldest church building in Jacksonville and second oldest in Calhoun County. The parish house was constructed in 1992., Listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on March 4, 1976