This year the Diocese is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. In 1967, at the 62nd General Convention, this resolution was passed.

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In part it reads, “Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the General Convention hereby give consent to the erection of a new Diocese, to be known as the Diocese of Idaho; such new Diocese to include all of the territory now included in the Missionary District of Idaho……..

However, our story doesn’t begin here. I would like to share some of our history from the first fifty years.

Our story begins with the arrival, by horseback, of The Reverend Saint Michael Fackler from his previous service area near Portland. As far is can be ascertained, in 1864 he was the first ordained clergy in the newly established town of Boise City. His arrival prompted the paper to write a brief story…

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“The Rev. Mr. Fackler is now stopping in this city for a few days, and will preach tomorrow morning and evening in the school house. Mr. Fackler is on a tour of observation through Boise, Owyhee and Alturas counties, and is disposed to remain in Boise City during the coming winter, if sufficient interest is manifested by the citizens to assist in providing a horse and sustaining stated and regular service.”

Fackler remained in Boise for just over two years, making regular trips to Idaho City, Ruby City and Silver City. Eventually, Fackler made it clear that if he were to remain he would need a proper church constructed. The Women’s Auxiliary of his Boise congregation accepted the challenge, raising over $1500 in gold through ice cream socials, selling fancy needlework and quilts, and talent shows. This pattern of fund-raising,. led by either the women’s auxiliary or women’s guilds, continued through the construction of most of the early churches built in Idaho….

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Boise Episcopal Church, was dedicated in early September, 1866. It was the first permanent church structure in the Idaho territory and the first Episcopal Church building in what would soon become the Missionary District of Montana.

Three weeks after the dedication, while on his way back east to visit his family, Fackler contracted cholera while tending to the sick on-board his ship anddied near Florida.

A month after Fackler dedicated his new church, and likely unknown to him, a Special Session of the General Convention reorganized all of the Missionary Districts, creating the Missionary District of Montana in the process, and electing Daniel Sylvester Tuttle as bishop of the territory, including all of what is now Montana, Idaho and Utah…..

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Too young to be a bishop, Tuttle’s ordination was delayed until May 1, 1867.

With The Rev. George D.B. Miller and The Rev. Henry L. Foote, Bishop Tuttle travelled by train to near North Platte, Nebraska. From there, armed with a rifle, Tuttle rode on top of the stagecoach for the two and a half days it took to reach Denver.

Once the party got to Salt Lake City, The Rev. Miller went on to Boise, arriving in July.

One of Miller’s first tasks was to establish a vestry for Boise Episcopal Church. At their first meeting, the vestry decided to rename the church to Saint Michael the Archangel in honor of The Reverend Saint Michael Fackler.

150 years ago this month, Bishop Tuttle arrived in Boise City by stagecoach. He described the trip to Boise this way, …….

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"During the last fifty miles of that Boise trip I was more used up physically than at any other time I can think of in my life. I was past the point of grinning and bearing, or shutting the teeth and enduring. All the forces of resistance seemed to be beaten down and disintegrated. I was ready to groan and cry, and would have offered not a jot of opposition if the driver had dumped me down upon the roadside and left me behind under a sage brush."

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On this 1890 map of Boise, you can see St. Michael’s located.

During his first month in Boise, Tuttle purchased a city block for the price of fencing the land, ($325.88.) The first St. Michael’s rectory was constructed on this site in 1889.

On his watch Bishop Tuttle dedicated several new churches to include St. Mark’s, Idaho City in 1882…

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Emmanuel, Hailey, St. Paul’s, Bellevue, and St. George’s Mission in Delamar, were all built in 1885. The last church Tuttle dedicated was St. Mary’s, Emmett in 1886.

In the 1885 Journal of the 3rd Convocation of the Missionary District of Utah and Idaho, delegations from St. Michael's - Boise City, St. Mark's - Idaho City, St. James' - Silver City, St. Paul's - Bellevue, Emmanuel - Hailey, St. Mark's –Ketchum, and Holy Innocents - Blackfoot are mentioned. According to the Convocation Treasurer’s Report, a total of 18 Idaho congregations were regularly sending money to the District.

Bishop Tuttle served as the Missionary Bishop until 1886.

In 1887, Bishop Ethelbert Talbot, arrived…….

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Talbot served the newly created Missionary District Idaho and Wyoming from 1887 until 1898.

Talbot was the first bishop born west of the Mississippi. When he took over the district he had only four clergy working in Idaho to support 50 congregations.

Here is a 1897 story about to him from the Blackfoot News. Those who lament the difficulties in raising money for the work of the church may appreciate the bishop’s methods.

Talbot was trying to raise funds for a church project in Wyoming. Not happy with the slow pace of contributions, the Bishop decided to take a walk about town. He eventually found himself behind a saloon well known for its backroom poker games. As the story goes, he found five prominent citizens, all members of the church, playing cards. "Each had a comfortable stack of chips in front of him. These the bishop 'swiped' and on the following day sent to the bank to be cashed. The money - $700 - was set down to 'collections.

Bishop Talbot also made frequent trips to the East Coast to solicit funds for the work of the church in Idaho. During his tenure, Idaho became a state and churches sprouted up all over.….

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These included : St. Thomas, Ketchum. The original building, known as the Union Hall, was purchased 1891.………...

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In 1892 Holy Innocents was built in Blackfoot. You know the church today as St. Paul’s,

Also completed in 1892 were St. Luke’s, Weiser, and St. James, Payette…...

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……… In 1895, St. John’s, Idaho Falls is completed. A year later…..

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St. David’s, Caldwell. If you look closely here, you can see St. David’s on the right side of Main Street in Caldwell.

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The last church built under Bishop Talbot was St. James, Silver City,completed in 1898

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Near and dear to Bishop Talbot’s heart, and to that of his successor, Bishop Funsten, was St. Margaret's School for Girls which was completed in 1892 on land adjacent to the St. Michael’s rectory. The school was open to all, serving as both a community school for local residents and a boarding school for those not living nearby. Talbot’s goal was to provide a first class education to the daughters of not only local merchants, but to those whose parents were the ranchers, farmers, and miners. Records show he solicited donations from wealthy patrons around the country in order to keep the tuition affordable.

Over time, the school included St. Luke’s Nursing School and then Boise Junior College, while still serving as the School for Girls.

In 1898 Talbot departed……

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Arriving in 1899, Bishop Funsten took over the newly renamed Missionary District of Boise.

He began his ministry with only nine clergy and a district that covered an area of 21,000 square miles.

One of his first acts as bishop was to accept from the Connecticut Indian Association, the deed to a 160-acre farm and several mission buildings. With these, Funsten established the Episcopal mission school at Fort Hall.

Funsten also purchased the St. Michael’s rectory, remodeling it into what we now know as the Bishop’s House.

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The remodeling took over a year and during that time Bishop Funstenand his family resided at Fort Hall.

In 1899 he also bought the lot at 8th and State and began construction of St. Michael’s Cathedral which was dedicated in 1902 and consecrated on August 25, 1918, just three months before Bishop Funsten’s death.

1902 was a major year for church construction. Emmanuel, Mackay was completed. So was Church of the Redeemer, Salmon….

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The former St. Michael’s was relocated to 15th and Ridenbaugh and a new rectory was added

In 1903, construction was completed on Christ Episcopal Church, Shoshone…..

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The next church to be completed was St. James, sometimes referred to as All Saints, Dubois in 1903.

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Also in 1903, construction was completed on another of Bishop Funsten’sprojects, St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise

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The hospital was so successful that in less than a year it was expanded and three years later an annex was added.

According to a 1907 Hospital report, the most common procedures dealt with “women’s problems” and gun shot wounds.

Other churches completed in 1904 were St. Andrews, Montpelier and Church of the Good Shepherd, Fort Hall……

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In 1907 Bishop Tuttle House was finished, as was Grace Chapel, Boise and then Church of the Ascension, Twin Falls in 1908

In 1909 four churches were completed: Holy Trinity, Buhl -- Calvary, Jerome – and St. Barnabas, Wendell / Hagerman -- Trinity, Gooding, which was built on land owned and donated by Frank Gooding, town namesake and governor of Idaho at the time.

With all of this construction, it is easy to see why Bishop Funsten was known as the Builder Bishop.

I have a 1910 anecdote to share that may be of special interest to those clergy who struggle with getting around the diocese.

Trinity, Gooding had a new pastor by the name of Reverent W.R.R. Simmonds. He conducted weekly services in Gooding, Wendell / Hagerman, Jerome, and Bliss. A task he accomplished by riding a bicycle. A route of 72 miles that took about 10 hours to complete.

Simmonds also conducted occasional services in Glenn’s Ferry, Mountain Home and Bruneau. To get to these parishes he hitchhiked. It is rumored he also took a small, portable organ when he travelled.

During the 1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, Simmonds made regular visits to congregants and provided shaves to those men who couldn’t get out.

Eventually, Bishop Funsten provided the funds for Simmonds to get a used car to make his rounds. Bishop Funsten himself was also roughing it……

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Here, he and his buggy are taking a ferry across the Big Wind River in southwest Wyoming

Back to building churches…………

In 1910 St. James, Burley was finished

In 1911 three more were completed; St. John’s, also called Bruneau Episcopal Church in Bruneau – St. John’s, American Falls – St. George’s, New Meadows

The final church built under Bishop Funsten was Grace Church, Glenns Ferry completed in 1917..…..

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Completed in 1916, this is the second to the last church built during Bishop Funsten’s tenure and it was a surprise find for me. The bishop was proud of this church and mentioned it by name in an article in the church publication Spirit of Missions.

Do you know the location of this church?

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My hope is that I can interest you and others in our amazing history as a diocese, encourage you to explore the history of your own church, and hopefully to share some of that history with the Special Collections and Archives at Boise State.

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