In May 1854 Thomas F. Scott, missionary bishop of the episcopal church for Oregon and Washington, visited Olympia, holding services in the hall of representatives. But it was not until about 1865 that he was able to send a clergyman to take charge of the episcopal society in the capital of Washing- ton, when P. E. Hyland resigned the rectorship of Trinity church, Portland, to assume this duty. In the mean time the bishop and occasional missionary clergy had ministered, the communicants numbering ten at Olympia. When Hyland settled here a church edifice was already completed by this small number, none of whom were rich. The consecration of St John's Episcopal Church of Olympia took place September 3, 1865. There was at the same time at Seattle a lay reader, C. Bennett, who also superintended a sunday-school. At Port Townsend a church that had been three years in building was completed in 1865. After the death of Scott, which occurred in 1867, little advancement was made until the arrival of the newly elected missionary bishop, B. Wistar Morris, who displayed much energy in founding churches and schools. The number of episcopal churches and chapels in 1880 was as follows: St Luke's church of Vancouver, communicants 35; St John's church of Olympia, com. 37; Trinity church of Seattle, com. 77; St Paul's church of Port Townsend, com. 21 ; St Paul's church of Walla Walla, com. 26; St Peter's chapel of old Tacoma, com. 11; St Luke's church of New Tacoma, com. 4; St Andrew's chapel of Kalama, congregation small; Upper Columbia mission, com. 17; other commuuicants 100.
The fourth denomination in Olympia to erect a house of worship to the same deity was the baptist society, which, although somewhat numerous, did not file articles of incorporation until the 15th of March, 1872. The board of trustees were William H. Mitchell, Bennett W. Johns, M. E. Traver, F. W. Fine, and Roger S. Greene. Olympia Standard, Dec. 28, 1878. Two years afterward a church was erected and paid for, the pulpit being successively filled by Joseph Castro, Roger S. Greene, and J. P. Ludlow; one v/as also built at Seattle. In 1877 the baptist association of Puget Sound proposed to place a gospel-ship on the waters of the Sound — a floating missionary establishment, propelled by steam, which could visit all the out-of-the-way places on the Sound and in B. C. waters. * We would thus have work for our pastors, gospel bands, or general missionary, the readiest, cheapest, and most practical conveyance for years to come,' said the circular. Ludlow, Greene, and Wirth were appointed a committee to present the matter to the churches. Olympia Wash. Standard, Dec. 29, 1877. In time the little steamer was built and furnished—and used as a tug-boat.
There were several preachers, chiefly methodists, who followed the mining exodus from the Willamette Valley in 1862–4, and who held services weekly wherever a congregation could be had. Ebey's Journal, MS., 8, 77. The first minister settled in eastern Washington, not of the Roman church, was P. B. Chamberlain, who in the spring of 1864 purchased a building known as Ryan's Hall and fitted it up as a church, where he made war on wickedness with a singleness of purpose rare in modern times. Chamberlain founded the first congregational church in Washington. Nine years afterward a church of this denomination was organized at Olympia, which purchased the lot and building formerly owned by the catholic church on Main street for a few hundred dollars, and in Sept. 1874 repairs had made the edifice fit to be again dedicated to religious worship. Services were kept up to 1876 by volunteer preaching, C. A. Huntington, George H. Atkinson, and Cushing Eells officiating. The first regular pastor was G. W. Skinner, who remained but six months, when he returned to Kansas, and David Thomas succeeded him.
In 1885 there were in Olympia seven churches, including the modern Roman catholic and the unitarian, the latter in charge of D. N. Utter. Seattle had six, Port Townsend three, and the whole number for western Washington was about thirty. The whole number in eastern Washington was given at nineteen, seven of these being at Walla Walla, namely, the methodist, Cumberland presbyterian, episcopal, congregational, catholic, seventh-day adventists, and united brethren.
