Local Church Marking 150th Anniversary

Episcopal bishop, others will mark milestone at St. Stephen’s McKeesport

By T.J. Martin
The Tube City Almanac
October 15, 2023
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Parishioners Ethel Balas and Karen Slobodian and priest-in-charge the Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre are among those getting ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. (T.J. Martin photo for Tube City Almanac)

Few things last for 150 years, so when something does, that longevity is often honored. One institution marking its 150th anniversary this year is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in McKeesport and it will mark that milestone on Oct. 21, with an Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. at the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center.

The event will include refreshments and speeches from McKeesport native Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, whose godmother is a member of the church; state Sen. Jim Brewster (D-45th), a former McKeesport mayor and city councilman; and Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Ketlen Solak.

The history center is located in Renziehausen Park along with McKeesport’s first school known as the “little red school house.” That school house hosted McKeesport’s first Episcopal service in 1869.

At a meeting afterward, it was decided to form a congregation in McKeesport so, while services were held in members’ homes and other churches already in McKeesport, future members of the church purchased two lots near the corner of Eighth Avenue and Market Street for $1,500.

In 1871, the name St. Stephen’s was chosen, the cornerstone for the church was laid in 1872 and the first services were held in the wooden-frame church in 1873.

At the time, church members walked or took a train to the services. Because no bridges yet crossed the Monongahela or Youghiogheny rivers from McKeesport, the church’s deacon-in-charge used a log raft to help those who lived on the opposite sides of the rivers get to the services.

In May 1886, a cornerstone for a new $15,000 church, the first stone building of any kind in McKeesport, was laid at a lot along Eighth Avenue, where the present church still stands.

In 1948, the wooden guild hall was demolished and replaced with a new Parish House attached to the church, and in the mid-1980’s, the former McKeesport Post Office next door was purchased, the building was demolished and the property was converted into a parking lot.

(Submitted photo)

One church member who has seen more than 60 years of the church’s history is Karen Slobodian. Now senior warden of the church vestry — the board of the church — Slobodian said her mother joined the church and 16 and she and her two sisters were baptized, confirmed and married at St. Stephen’s.

The Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre has been the priest-in-charge of St. Stephen’s for the past three years. In the late 1950s, she said, the church held three weekly services, at 8 a.m., 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m., and for good reason. In June 1957, for example, church records show the church had more than 500 “communicants.”

Slobodian said the 9:15 service was the main services for families. When families arrived, the adults would enter the sanctuary while the children and their teachers would go downstairs for Sunday school. There were enough students for a different class for each grade. Both the service and the Sunday school would end at the same time and then the families would gather in the downstairs social hall for coffee.

Another longtime member is Ethel Balas, who joined the church in 1959. She remembered that, even with two services, parishioners had to arrive early on Christmas for services and said at one point, the church put folding chairs in the aisles for those who arrived after the pews were filled.

Before COVID in 2020, the church had a small service at 8 a.m. and another at 10 a.m., but now, only the 10 a.m. service is held.

Another casualty of the pandemic was the church choir, which, when it ended, had eight to 10 members. Slobodian remembered when the choir included many more members, including herself.

“My sisters and I were all in the choir, my mother was a “choir mother” and my father was an usher,” she said.

The entryway to the sanctuary has a group of photos of every priest who has served in the parish since its inception and several items in the sanctuary, such as the stained glass windows, bear the dates of when they were donated.

But even with all its history, the church isn’t stuck in the past. Although its attendance has dropped to between 25 and 30 people at its Sunday service, the church has since 2020 livestreamed the service. Six months ago, the sound system was upgraded to improve the experience of those watching online.

“People would watch and say, ‘I couldn’t hear this part, I couldn’t hear that part,’” Slobodian said.

McIntyre said a recent service had 72 online viewers. She said she has a couple of friends in Canada and one in Michigan who watch, and Slobodian said she has kept in touch with a former parishioner who now lives in Florida and also views the weekly service online.

At one point, Slobodian said, there were more than 60 churches in McKeesport. Asked how St. Stephen’s has survived when many others haven’t, Slobodian said she and her fellow parishioners are stubborn.

“We do what we want to do when we want to do it,” she said.

T.J. Martin is a freelance writer from Trafford whose work has also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Irwin Standard Observer.

Originally published October 15, 2023.

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