The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
1885 – closed after 1907 · building now in East Chicago
The town's Episcopal mission left town by rail, and its record survives whole in its diocese's archives. The mission began in 1885, the Rev. J. Gorton Miller of Bristol holding monthly services; he remained to 1888, and a Ladies Society of seven members was organized. In 1886 the society purchased two lots on the south side of the village, title taken by the Diocesan Trustees; the north half was sold to James Reynolds in 1891, the south half dedicated for a church building. The Rev. Walter Scott of La Porte arrived as missionary in 1890, holding monthly weekday services, and under him the mission contracted with George W. Ashley to build a wood-frame church, completed in May 1893; on May 16, 1893, Bishop Knickerbacker and clergy held a service of consecration. Scott resigned in June 1895, just after a silver chalice and paten had been presented to the mission. The succession runs Thomas B. Barlow, also of La Porte, to 1897; Elias B. Stockton, who resigned in December 1897; and John Foster Kirk, deacon from December 1897 to May 1898, who was ordained priest and celebrated communion for the first time at St. Mary's. In 1898 the mission stood as a charter congregation of the new Diocese of Michigan City — the diocese erected that year for northern Indiana, known today as the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana. Membership then dwindled, the archives record, "especially after a prominent lay member decided to become a Christian Scientist" — the only Christian Science trace this section finds in the town, at household strength, no congregation. Clarence E. Brandt conducted services in 1899–1900 and Edward L. Roland in 1901–1902; a few services were held in 1906 and 1907, and then the mission closed. The building did not die with it: with its windows and fixtures it was moved by rail car and incorporated into the new Church of the Good Shepherd, East Chicago, in 1915, its wood-face exterior resurfaced in brick — the Good Shepherd account dates the move itself to 1914, gives the cost as $3,600 and the money as coming from the sale of the New Carlisle property, and dates the first service in the rebuilt church to January 1915, per Bishop White; both datings print. Good Shepherd itself closed in 2018, and its stained glass passed later to St. David's, Elkhart, itself closed in 2024. St. Mary's extant parish register, which the archives' parish page gives as covering 1885–1904 — one diocesan records listing gives the register as 1891–1903, and both spans print — survives in the diocesan archives.
The diocese course at this town's size is short: erected 1898 as the Diocese of Michigan City, with St. Mary's of New Carlisle among its charter congregations; continued today as the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana; and its bishop as of November 2026 is the Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks, eighth bishop of the diocese, who presided at its 128th Diocesan Convention at Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne, on November 7, 2026. Bishop Sparks announced on February 11, 2026, his intention to resign as bishop diocesan on August 31, 2027, with a sabbatical from December 13, 2026, to April 3, 2027 — an announced transition, printed at diocesan strength; in November 2026 he is the bishop. A photograph in the diocesan archives, "St. Mary's Episcopal Church, New Carlisle, Indiana, about 1890," is noted in this section's accounting as an image candidate; none is pulled.
Sources
- Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana Archives (Scalar, University of Southern California), "St. Mary's Episcopal Church, New Carlisle (defunct)" and the Church of the Good Shepherd, East Chicago, parish page — read in full, November 2026.
- Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, ednin.org, and the diocesan eNews, November 2026 — Bishop Sparks and the 128th Convention.