The first Episcopal services at Shamokin were held in the Lutheran church in 1854-55 by Rev. D. Washburn, of Pottsville. In the spring of 1865 Rev. Rowland H. Brown, of Lewisburg, held Episcopal services in the Presbyterian church: an organization was effected not long after through the efforts of Reverends Brown and G. W. Shinn, of Philadelphia. The latter became the first rector, remaining a little over a year.
During the summer of 1865 a contract was awarded J. B. Gibson for the erection of a church edifice; in the meantime services were held in the Presbyterian church and Central school house. It was decided to erect a building twenty-eight by seventy-eight feet on the lot presented by Charles P. Helfenstein, and the cornerstone was laid, November 7, 1865, at which service Rev. G. W. Shinn officiated, assisted by the Reverends Brown, Gibson, and Allen. The building was almost completed when it was entirely destroyed by a violent wind storm: timbers were obtained from the ruins, however, with which a chapel was erected at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars.
Although services had been held and an organization effected in 1865, there is no record of any communion until January, 1866. On this occasion but five persons partook of the sacrament: Charles P. Helfenstein and wife, William A. Kichardson and wife, and Mrs. Abbie Slocum.
From the early part of January, 1866, until May of the same year, worship was held in the Central school building. The first service in the new chapel occurred. May 11, 1866, when the rite of confirmation was administered by Bishop Vail, of Kansas, to fifteen persons. Mr. Shinn resigned on the 10th of February, 1867, and since that date the succession of rectors has been as follows: Reverends I. N. Spear, I. H. H. Millett, F. M. Bird, H. H. Boyle, D. Washburn, Joseph Wright, Samuel Cheevers, Wilber F. Watkins, Jr., and John Graham, the present incumbent, who assumed charge in March, 1890.
During Mr. Cheevers’s administration the chapel was enlarged, a tower was erected, and a bell was placed therein. This building was removed to the southern part of the lot in 1890, placed upon a stone foundation, and adapted to the purpose of a Sunday school room and general ”church workshop.” The erection of a handsome stone church edifice at the corner of the lot was begun in the same year and it is now approaching completion.