Trinity Episcopal Church is a parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of the Episcopal Church

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...

 in McArthur

McArthur, Ohio

McArthur is a village in Vinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,888 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Vinton County.-Geography:McArthur is located at ....

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The parish worships in a historic church located at the intersection of Sugar and High Streets; built in the nineteenth century, it has been designated a historic site

Historic site

A historic site is an official location where pieces of political, military or social history have been preserved. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have recognized with the official national historic site status...

.

Construction

Trinity Episcopal Church was built in 1882 on land formerly owned by Andrew Wolf, whose donation included an adjacent house for use as a rectory

Rectory

A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...

. The parish employed local contractor Oscar W. Gilman to design the building and to arrange for its construction. Seven years after the church was finished, Gilman was again hired by the church to add the bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

.

Architecture

Among the hallmarks of Gilman's design are a steep gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

d roof, an apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

, and buttress

Buttress

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

es. The church is a fine example of the Late Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 style of architecture, due to elements such as its lancet window

Lancet window

A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...

s of stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

. The walls are built of handmade bricks that rest upon a foundation of hand-cut sandstone blocks; both the sandstone and the clay for the bricks were obtained locally.

Recent history

In 1976, Trinity Episcopal Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 because of its well-preserved historic architecture. As a longtime McArthur landmark, it was seen as significant primarily in local history.

Trinity Episcopal remains an active parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio

Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio

The Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America with jurisdiction over southern Ohio and The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. It is in Province 5 and its cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, is in Cincinnati as are the office of the...

. In 2010, its pastor was William Bales.