The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-01-01
IT'S time TO DIG
Grace Cathedral Needs $4,000
to Complete 1t.
Topeka Citizens Will Have a
Chance to Subscribe.
PLAN TO Finish 1T next YEAR
1t viii Then Be the Finest
West of Chicago.
Already, Nearly 100000 Has
Been Spent on 1t.
PLAN TO FINISH IT next YEAR

| The completion of Grace Cathedral
| in 1916, plans for which were perfect
ed at meeting held at the Episcopal
deanery Thursday night, will happily
realize cherished ambitions of
both Bishop Frank R. Millsapugh and
Dean James P. deb. Kaye
These popular churchmen have long
! been identified with Topeka and both
| have worked hard to give Topeka a
cathedral which will be an honor to
the city. If the present effort is sue
| ceSsful and the cathedral is finished
in 1916, Topeka will boast of the fin
| est Episcopal edifice west of Chicago.
1t is of solid stone inside and out. 1t
| will have a seating capacity of 1900
and its spires will overtop anything il
| the city, by far. Both Dean Kaye and
the bishop have given much valuable
service to Topeka.
Dean Kaye organized the first Civic
Improvement society of the city. 1t
| did great work in awakening civic
pride especially in tn eway of beau
| toying homes and gardens. Prizes
were offered for the prettiest front
yards, the cleanest back yards. and
much improvement was wrought as
the result of the leagues activities
Previous to this the dean had accom-
plished much work in identifying the
| city's parks. He bought thousands of
shrubs and brought them to Topeka
and sold them out at cost. All the
shrubbery at the hospital was started
| by him. The grounds of Bethany col
lege and the flower garden at the
! rectory are among the beauty spots of
| Topeka. No citizen of the city did
more to make Topeka beautiful
| than he.
Coming of Dean Kaye.
| Dean Kaye is a native of England,
having been born in Shropshire, about
| 80 miles from Stratford- on-Avon. He
! came to America when a small boy
and was educated in this country. He
/ is now completing his fourteenth year
| as Dean of Grace Cathedral, coming
here as the successor of Dean Sykes
! in December, 1901, being the eighth
dean of the parish. He came here
upon the recommendation of Bishop
| MiIlspaugh who had preceded him
seven years. The dean was on his
way to California when he met, the
! bishop on the train and the latter
| liked him so well that he urged him
to come to Topeka and paved the way
| for his coming.
Bishop Millspaugh came to Topeka
| in 1894. He held the deanery a year
and a half, when he was elected
| bishop. He was consecrated at Guild
Hall on September 10, 1895 Bishop
| Millspaugh was born in New York
state, but has spent most of his life
| in the west and expects to die in To-
| peka. He was in Omaha ten years,
/
| thedral there that cost 800, 900. He
raised every bit of the money in Oma-
ha. In 1886 he went back to Mime
apolis, where he had been located,
and found the parish there $4,000 in
debt He lifted this debt in eight
years and then came to Topeka. He
received the first call in 1898, but de-
clined because he had not completed
his work in Minneapolis. The follow
ing year he accepted, and came to
l.; :, vi, Of md hos
been here ever since. The bishop
remembers, with a chuckle, the sur
prise of his wife when they arrived in
Topeka, at seeing the town had a
few streets and sidewalks.
why, my dear" he replied to her
ordinations, you didn't think that
at my time of life I was going to take
you to the frontier %
Decide to Build Cathedral.
Thirty-five years ago the Episco-
palians decided to erect a cathedral
in Topeka That was when the city
was booming and the prospect was
that it, instead of Kansas City, was
to be the metropolis of the prairies.
The EpiscopalianS owned a building
at the corner of Seventh and jackson
streets, where they worshiped. They
sold this for $36, 600, when the boom
came but the purchaser did not take
the building. FORGETTING the $1,000 he
had paid on it. Later the building
sold for $1,000 or $1,000. Then the
Guild Hall was built, to be used until
a cathedral could be erected. 1t has
been in use ever since. Upon the
death of Mrs. Giles, widow of the late
Col. F. w. Giles, one of Topeka's
pioneer citizens, she left valuable
property to the church. One building
was that which stood where the Or
pheum theater now stands. It was
sold to Frank p. MacLennan for s35,-
600. Another building, the one on
Kansas avenue now used by the Sal
walton Army, was sold for $4,000.
This, with $4,000 raised by Dean
Kaye personally. gave $4,000. The
cathedral was commenced in 1909.
Ground was broken June 80 and the
foundation was begun October l, 1909.
May 81, 1911, the Cornerstone was laid
with great ceremony. After the en-
tire exterior had been completed, the
money became exhausted, and work
stopped.
AS a matter of civic pride, the cit
liens of Topeka are now trying to
raise $4,000 to complete the struc-
ture.
The Episcopal church has never
asked the city for anything and those
citizens who have undertaken the
work of raising the money feel that
the CITY owes it to the Episcopalians
to help them finish the cathedral
The Episcopal institutions of To-
peka have been worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the city. 1t is
estimated that Bethany College alone
brings 500, 600 a year to the city and
Christ hospital twice as much