Tiffany Windows, Flemish Tapestries and Beautiful Bells at St. Paul’s Church

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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (914 E. Knapp St.) on the Lower East Side of Milwaukee was built in 1882. It was the second church built for Milwaukee’s pioneer Episcopal congregation. The Richardsonian Romanesque-styled church is well known for its Tiffany glass windows. The Hehe type of glass was developed and produced from 1878-1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his team of designers. The church has the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass windows in Wisconsin. This includes the largest window ever made by Tiffany Studios which is 30 feet long, 24 feet high and up to 2 inches thick. It is a duplicate of Gustave Doré's masterpiece Christ Leaving the Praetorium.

St.Paul’s is the oldest Episcopal parish in Milwaukee and the third in Wisconsin. Founded in 1838, members included the esteemed families of Charles Bradley, Hamilton Townsend, plus the Ogdens, Uihleins and Vogels. Their community standing helped the church become the most influential Episcopal congregation in Wisconsin.

The building was designed by architect Edward Townsend Mix, a Milwaukee-based architect. Lake Superior Sandstone, a dark red sandstone found near the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, was used. The church features wrought iron by Master Blacksmith Cyril Colnik, who created iron gates, fences and railings for many prominent Milwaukeeans. Over the years St. Paul’s received numerous gifts of fine furnishings and art objects. In 1957 the church acquired an early 16th century Flemish tapestry representing the betrothal of Mary of Burgundy. The tapestry currently hangs in the morning chapel.

A committee, appointed by the church, established Forest Home Cemetery on Milwaukee’s South Side, the final resting place of many of the city’s famed beer barons and social elite. When the land was selected it was located nearly two miles outside of the city limits. At the time it was believed to be far enough from urban development to remain rural.

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Change Ringing Bells

In 1994, Roland Perschon, a retired Milwaukee public school teacher living in Pewaukee, had a set of eight bells cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England. This octave of bells is not an ordinary set of church bells that merely swing back and forth or are struck by hammers. The bells are attached to large vertical wheels allowing the bells to swing in a complete 360 degrees circle. This method of ringing bells, named “Change Ringing bells,” originated sometime in the early 1700s and is a uniquely English practice. Change Ringing is a team sport that involves a group of people ringing rhythmically, a set of tuned bells through a series of changing sequences that are determined by mathematical principles and executed according to learned patterns.

These bells will be the last set of Whitechapel bells to be installed in the world, a significant distinction for St. Paul’s Church and tower. The Whitechapel Foundry, casting bells since the mid-1500s, closed in 2017. There are 47 Change Ringing towers in the United States, most located in Episcopal venues throughout the eastern and southern regions. St. Paul’s Tower will be the forty-eighth installation in the United States. 

The parish has raised approximately half of the $120,000.00 cost to install eight bells in the West Tower. The project is projected to be completed within the next year. Anyone interested in learning more about this acclaimed endeavor and would like to donate to the project should contact the parish office at 414-276-6277.