Windsor Mills Christ Church Episcopal
Wisell Rd. and U.S. Route 322
Windsor Mills Christ Church Episcopal, also known as Windsor Mills Historic Church, is a historic former church building in Windsor Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Built in the 1830s, it features a distinctive combination of two different architectural styles, and it has been named a historic site. Windsor Township’s first Protestant Episcopal society was established in 1816, and pioneer settler Solomon Griswold, a pioneer settler who came with his family to Windsor from Connecticut in 1800, donated the resources to build its first building north of Windsor Center. Dubbed “Solomon’s Temple,” it served the parish for a comparatively short time when they purchased three acres of land from Alexander Alderman for $10.00., and the present structure replaced it in 1832, although at a different location west of Windsor Center.
The parcel of land was on the northeast corner of the crossroads later known as Windsor Mills. The former Christ Church is a weatherboarded structure combining the influences of the Greek and Gothic Revival styles. At the time, the Greek Revival style was in vogue, but when this style fell out of favor and the Gothic Revival replaced it in the popular imagination, Christ Church was updated accordingly. The church building constructed by those Connecticut settlers is shaped like a New England Meeting House, with curved supporting beams for the roof, tall pointed Gothic windows placed around the rectangular building, pews of solid walnut, a balcony, and a raised pulpit, with a central main entrance on the facade. Sanctuary pews which seat 200 are divided in the center by a panel. Only one pew has a continuous aisle to allow passage from one side to another. The balcony has a seating capacity of 50, and access to it is gained by curving stairways on either side of the vestibule. A closet-like enclosure leads up awkward steps to the attic. The roof rises to a gable at each end, and a tower with a pinnacle on each corner sits atop the roof near the front.
On Tuesday, October 1, 1833, the building was consecrated by Bishop McIlvane who described it as standing at “the edge of the forest.” Soon after the church became established, the parish was disrupted by a disastrous revival of the Campbellites (Disciples of Christ) in 1834, which depleted the congregation and it lapsed into a quiescent state. By 1856, the church was abandoned. Its name was no longer included in a list of Ohio parishes in 1884. Early in the 1900s, Archbishop Asa Appleton Abbott reportedly spent many days in a corner of the church where he had fitted up for himself a bed. He repaired the dilapidated church and revived the parish that had been virtually dead for 30 years. But by 1920, the church again fell into disuse. In 1955, the Ashtabula County Historical Society obtained a twenty-year lease from the Episcopal Diocese of Cleveland at an annual rate of dollar. Restoration began in the summer of 1956. A 30 x 18 addition was made at the rear of the church to serve as a museum to house historic items from the area that the Society had acquired.
More architectural work was performed in 1961, as extensive interior renovations were performed with such success that the project was recognized by the American Institute of Architects. Since that time, it had ceased to be a church, with a museum becoming the building’s new occupant. When the 20-year lease expired in 1975, the Ashtabula County Historical Society did not renew the lease. However, concerned area residents had anticipated the decision and had formed the Windsor Historical Society and they decided to gather the funds and obtain another 20-year lease form the Diocese.
On May 29, 1975, the church was listed with the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying both because of its historically significant architecture and because of its general importance in local history. It is one of four National Register-listed locations in Windsor, along with the Wiswell Road Covered Bridge, the Windsor Mills Fort and Village Site (a prehistoric archaeological site), and the town center at Windsor Center. In 2004, the Diocese sold the building to the Windsor Historical Society for $15,000. With a $5,000 down payment, the Society had ten years to pay off the remaining balance. In 2008, the Society obtained a $25,000 grant from the Ashtabula Foundation for extensive repairs to the church “at the edge of the forest,” the forest now long gone. The church is now operated seasonally as the Windsor Historical Society Museum.
