Calvary Cathedral

Calvary Cathedral was built through the efforts of William Hobart Hare, early missionary and the first Episcopal bishop in Dakota Territory. He persuaded wealthy capitalist John Jacob Astor, owner of the American Fur Trading Company, to contribute funds, eventually totaling $20,000, for its construction. Astor's donations were in memory of his late wife, Charlotte Augusta Astor, who had been a patroness of All Saints School and the Indian missions., The original drawings by Philadelphia architects called for a considerably larger building. However, Astor disapproved the plans and insisted that the building be "not so expensive as to be a burden for its support in a new country." Sioux quartzite was used in the construction of the church 103 feet long, 52 feet wide, and 49 feet high. The cornerstone was laid December 5, 1888. Skilled laborers, paid the going wage of the times, 50 cents a day, completed the building in one year. For a town with a population of less than 12,000, it was a very imposing structure. After its consecration on December 11, 1889, Bishop Hare invited the Calvary Church congregation, the first religious society organized in Sioux Falls, to worship there. Originally called the Church of St. Augusta, the church soon became known as Calvary Cathedral., The cathedral is a repository for Christian art and artifacts, including three historic crosses. The first is made of gray stone from the remains of the oldest Christian church in England, St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. The second is of polished tan jasper, taken to England by William the Conqueror. Both the gray stone and the jasper were gifts to Bishop Hare. The third cross is of oak, originally taken by Richard the Lion-Hearted from England to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade and used there until 1936 as the rood beam in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre., During the cathedral's early years, a scandalously short residency requirement for divorce attracted a flourishing industry to Sioux Falls, much to the displeasure and opposition of Bishop Hare. Two-stained glass windows were donated by a former member of the local divorce colony, but the bishop refused to have them installed. Only after his death in 1909 were they uncrated and placed above the high altar. Among the many other fine stained-glass windows is a large round window depicting John the Baptist breaking a path in the wilderness. It commemorates the pioneer missionary efforts of Bishop Hare whose grave is on the north side of the cathedral., The interior of the church was completely remodeled in 1946. An educational wing was finished in 1953, and the addition that houses the diocesan offices in 1992.