page_title: Saint Barnabas on the Desert
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Barnabas on the Desert / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of the Quonset Hut used by Saint Barnabas on the Desert prior to the permanent building's construction
context_page_description: Saint Barnabas on the Desert is an Episcopal church located in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Founded as a mission church in 1953, the church was granted parish status in 1955, and was incorporated in 1958. The church moved into its present structure in 1961.
context_section_description: The parish was founded as a mission church in 1953, with its first service being held on November 15, 1953. Initial services were held in various locations on private properties, until moved to a Quonset hut located at 132 W. Main Street in Scottsdale, which was consecrated on October 3, 1954. Paul L. West was named as the parish's first rector in 1954, and St. Barnabas held its first service on March 3, 1954, which was Ash Wednesday. By the end of 1954 the mission church was financially self-sufficient.  On January 4, 1955, Mr. & Mrs. Fowler McCormick donated the land on Mockingbird Lane in Paradise Valley where the current structure is located, very close to the property they would later donate to the city of Scottsdale for the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. The ten acre parcel sat across the street from the Judson School.
  While continuing to conduct services in the Main Street location, the parish began raising funds for a permanent structure to be built on the donated property. Part of the Arizona Missionary Jurisdiction, the church was granted parish status by Bishop Arthur Barksdale Kinsolving II on November 1, 1955 (All Saints Day). On May 2, 1958, the church was officially incorporated in the state of Arizona. Later that year, the Missionary District officially became a Diocese of the Episcopal Church. In September 1959 Henry B. Getz became the rector of the parish.  In 1959, the design and construction of the new church building was awarded to T.S. Montgomery. In September 1960 it was announced that the parish had accepted the conceptual drawings for the church complex to be built on their 10-acre parcel. The design included four buildings. A 460-seat main sanctuary, a 60-seat chapel, and offices would occupy the main building; a meeting hall with kitchen facilities would be a second building, with the remaining two buildings named Education Buildings A & B housing classroom and small meeting rooms. The estimated cost of construction was $456,950. Construction on the current sanctuary, along with the chapel, offices and education building B began in 1960, with the official ground breaking occurring on December 4.  It was undertaken by the Redden Construction Company of Phoenix. Construction was completed the following year and the first service in the present sanctuary was held on September 11, 1961. On November 12, 1961 all the new buildings were dedicated. The sanctuary was "originally designed to have the acoustic properties of larger cathedrals". 1961 also saw the creation of the Church's "Memorial Acceptance and Fine Arts" committee (MAFA). Composed of between seven and nine congregation members with fine arts interests, the committee is responsible for approving all religious items, artwork, and decorations for the church. The first work commissioned and completed was a baptismal font, designed by Paradise Valley artists, Allen Ditson and Lee Porzio.
  When the church installed its new organ in 1962, the notable American organist, Richard Purvis, flew into Scottsdale to perform the dedication ceremony. The parish hall, now called Hutton Hall, was added to the church's campus in 1964, the fallowing year John H. Parke became rector.
  In November 1970, William Purdis Rowland was installed as the parish's new rector. In 1973, in honor of the congregation paying off the original mortgage, a mortgage burning ceremony was held. The church was consecrated, and blessed by several Episcopalian dignitaries, including George R. Selway, 
  Robert Donohoe (the ecumenical director of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona), and the former pastor of St. Barnabas, Henry B. Getz. The consecration took place because a church in the Episcopal faith may not be consecrated until it is debt-free ("all possibility of alienation to secular uses be erased"). The sanctuary received new main doors which involved a new art form invented by Ditson and Porzio, called "traforato".  The doors are cut forms of steel depicting scenes of children in the Bible, as well as the different stages of childhood. The cut steel is encased in glass. Some of t
caption: Interior of the Quonset Hut
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