The first recorded
Episcopal service in Elmira was conducted by the Right Reverend
Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk, D.D.,
Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of New York on May 16, 1832. Services were again held in Elmira in 1833 conducted by James D. Carder early in the year and by Daniel E. Brown in May. James D. Carder's report given to the 1833 New York Diocesan Convention in New York City stated, "[i]n Elmira, Tioga county, he performed divine service several times previous to the middle of July; and on the 12th of June organized a parish by the name of Trinity Church. He has for some tome looked to that place with much interest, and now contemplates with thanksgiving to God the sure foundation which he believes is there laid for the Church. On the last Lord's day, he had the satisfaction of administering the holy
Communion for the first time in that parish. Thirteen communicated, and one was repelled." There were also reported to be three children baptized and one marriage in the parish that year. Trinity Church was incorporated as a parish on June 12, 1833, under the supervision of James D. Carder. The Rev. Thomas Clark is listed as the first rector. Trinity's worship services began simply in a school house where
Park Church stands today. As stated by Rev. Clark that Fall in his report to the 1833 Diocesan Convention, "I arrived in Elmira as Missionary to that place on the 20th of July last, and found a small but zealous company of Episcopalians, who received me with the most lively pleasure as their Missionary. Some of them had lived without the services of their Church for several years, not having heard an Episcopal minister at Elmira more than three or four times previously to my arrival. I have commence preaching in the District School Room, which I generally have nearly fill; and it is probable, if we had a church, there would many more attend." As parish membership grew, a need for larger quarters was evident. With comparatively little money, but the commitment of time, energy and building materials from the Church family, a new church edifice was completed in December 1836 at Church Street and Railroad Avenue. The church was consecrated on the morning of Sunday, August 27, 1837, by Rt. Rev.
Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk, D.D. The present building at Church and Main Streets was designed by
Henry Dudley of New York and built by Nichols and Washburn. The cornerstone for the present structure "...was laid with impressive ceremonies," by Right Rev.
William Heathcote DeLancey on July 26, 1855. The chapel was consecrated on November 28, 1882, by Right Reverend
Frederic Dan Huntington, Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. The chapel was built with donations from Mariana Tuttle Arnot-Ogden as a memorial to her parents, John Arnot and Harriet Arnot, her sister, Aurelia Arnot, and her husband,
William B. Ogden. The principal window over the chancel was designed to symbolically represent the four people whom the chapel memorialized. This window was designed and executed by stained glass craftsman
Donald MacDonald of
Boston,
Massachusetts. The decoration of the interior of the chapel was designed and executed by
Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz of
New York City. ==Sports complex==