Capsule History

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland has been nestled in a pocket-canyon off Thornhill Road for almost sixty years, but its namesake lay near the waterfront, an assembly nearly native to the city. The first St. John’s Episcopal of Oakland conducted its inaugural service in 1859. By the late 1930s communicants were moving inland and a dwindling membership by 1936 could no longer sustain a full-time rector. In 1949 the Diocese conducted the last service at 8th and Grove, and in 1953 the dormant property was sold.

Around the time “Old St. John’s Episcopal” closed, several parishioners at the two-thousand-member St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Lake Merritt, convinced the Rev. James Crosson that St. Paul’s should seed mission churches in the Piedmont-Montclair district. The first Rector’s Committee on the Montclair mission met in April 1951, and by late spring the committee had secured a residential rental property at 2229 Mountain Boulevard, a stone’s throw south of the Montclair business district.

The first service was held on September 9, 1951. Ninety-seven adults and sixty-two children attended, the high turnout vindicating the planners who had encountered mild resistance from a few at St. Paul’s who were opposed to new missions. Some said “missions … under the shadow of a strong and thriving church like St. Paul’s seldom amount to anything.”St. John’s soon did not need vindication. Enthusiasm and vigorous lay leadership nurtured the mission church.

In the spring of 1952, St. John’s prepared to vacate the Mountain Boulevard rental when the proprietor, the Highway Commission, announced that the property was slated for demolition to make way for the new Cal 13 Highway. A property for sale in the pocket canyon “threaded by streams” at 1707 Gouldin was located and secured. St. John’s conducted its first service there on April 20, 1952.

A pledge campaign for the construction of a parish hall and chapel/sanctuary to accommodate the many Piedmont-Montclair families drawn to St. John’s began shortly. The first of several building campaigns looked toward a day “when we will be able to build an enlarged church building to be used solely for the purpose of worship.” Within two years, from pledges and a contribution from the Bishop for the sale of the old St. John’s Episcopal Church property at 8th and Grove, a new parish hall-chapel opened on March 7, 1954. Two hundred and thirty congregants attended services on opening day.

New Parish Hall (March 1954)

Opening Service Program (March 1954)

Fundraising for an educational wing began in 1955 when there were 207 students enrolled in church school! Space restrictions meant that four classes in the Junior Department were placed in available homes in the vicinity of the parish. Short term solutions to the space shortage came in May 1956 first in the purchase of the adjacent Pressler residence, “St. John’s House,” with 2/3 acre of land; and second, in 1957, with the completion of the Rectory (the church having purchased the landlocked Breed property).

Long term space planning began April 26, 1961, for the planning of an “educational wing” with church school class rooms, administrative offices, an educational chapel, and an expanded narthex and kitchen. The wing was dedicated on October 25, 1964, with room to spare for the children of Montclair Presbyterian Church, who made use of it while the Presbyterians’ educational building was under construction.

Music has been a cornerstone at St. John’s for a long time. Sara Evinger encountered St. John’s carolers at the Rockridge BART station in December 1979, and Tom Bowman invited her to sing in the choir. When the music director failed to appear at the appointed time in the Spring of 1980, she filled in and was subsequently offered the job as Music Director and Youth Choir Director by Father Rob McCann.

In 1982 the new organ and organ room were added to the sanctuary. Ernest Knell came on board just after Easter 1988 as “Interim” Music Director, and he has gifted us with a variety of glorious music ever since.

In 1984, St. John’s received a big boost when Kellor Smith was hired to be Father McCann’s assistant. She left in 1986, but the next year Father Rob and then Senior Warden Ray Craun asked her if she would hold the youth group together till they found a leader. In 22 years her title has changed from Youth Group leader to Director of Youth and Church School to the current title, Director of Youth and Family Ministries.

From St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston, Massachusetts, Scott Denman was called by the Vestry in late spring 1996 and began his ministry as Rector in August 1996. Shortly thereafter, two other properties (5914 and 5928 Thornhill) were purchased in 1997 and 1998, stitching together the last of St. John’s physical boundaries. These acquisitions led to a series of “Dream Team” public forums. The congregation was invited to form a vision for St. John’s physical space and spiritual life. The Architectural Planning and Construction Committee evolved from these meetings.

As we looked to building a separate sanctuary, we began A Time to Build Up campaign in 2001. Successful fundraising led to a 2006 application to the city for a Conditional Use Permit that would allow an improved entrance on Thornhill, new parking, compliant emergency vehicle access, and the footprint for a new sanctuary.Currently, the church is filing an Environmental Impact Report and hopes to have the necessary permits for Phase 1 by January, 2009.

Molly Darling was called to the position of Associate Rector in February 2002. You may recall that she attended as early as 1997 while a student at CDSP, and was later the St. John’s seminarian before joining the staff. After Mary Dexter stepped down in 2005, St. John’s was fortunate to have Bill Trego answer the Church School Coordinator job posting on craigslist.com. An ordained Methodist minister from Ohio, Bill has expanded the Godly Play program to cover grades Pre-K – 3.

Based on the growing needs in the Elderberries and Newcomer ministries, The Rev. Elaine Reichert joined St. John’s as Associate Rector in May 2007.

The CnC program gained national exposure and added pilot churches, so in June 2008 Laura Toepfer became the Interim Director in charge of marketing, curriculum, program maintenance and expansion.