Back in the summer of 1897, Mr. and Mrs. F. T. Proctor of Utica, N.Y. visited Sitka as tourists. Seeing there was no Episcopal Church building, they wrote after their return home and offered $2,000 toward the erection of one.

The church site was purchased for $750 in 1898. The Bishop secured the plans in November, 1898, "through the kindness of George C. Thomas of Philadelphia, and at his expense, "for the church building. The architect was H.L. During, Jr. of Philadelphia.

Ground was broken for the new church May of 1899. The cornerstone was laid by the Bishop with a service on St. Peter's Day, June 29, 1899. Among the deposits made in the cornerstone were coins from different parts of the world, a copy of the historical sketch of Sitka written by Lt. Emmons, a copy of The Alaskan Newspaper dated June 24, 1899, the Church Standard issue of June 3, 1899, a shell from the Sea of Galilee and two small American flags.

The church was finished at a cost of over $5000 and the opening service was held on November 26, 1899--the Sunday before Advent.
Among the many gifts presented to the church were: silver Communion Service by Mrs. Mary Rhinelander King of New York; an oak Eagle lectern by Mr. Codman of Brookline, MA; and two stained glass windows by Mr. and Mrs. Bauer. The oak altar, carved by young ladies of San Francisco was given by the Board of Women's Auxiliary. A church bell was given by the St. Celilia Society of Baltimore, MD, and the stone baptismal font was given by Mrs. Lawerence, New York.

On January 15, 1900, the Bishop called a meeting and formed a pro-Cathedral Chapter, the Cathedral to be called "St. Peter's by-the-Sea." April was the month chosen for consecration of the new church.

In 1905, Bishop Rowe became ill and was not able to make his annual trip through the interior. He spent most of that year building the Rowe family home back of the church--the building later named the See House because Sitka was the See City of the Episcopal Missionary District of Alaksa. Bishop Rowe did most of the building himself. It served as the Bishop's home and office as long as he lived in Alaska. It was used as the rectory until 1957, and later as the parish hall and office of the parish rector.

Dora Rowe, the Bishop's wife, wrote several hymns, all copyrighted in 1909. Three were found among the church's papers and sung at a special service on April 16, 1989--the anniversary of the consecration of the diocese. Two more hymns were discovered later and have been added to the St. Peter's music library.

Mrs. Rowe died in 1914, the Bishop in 1942. Both are buried in the plot on the south side of the front steps of the church.

St. Peter's is the home of the only pipe organ in Sitka. It was designed and built for the church by Dr. R. Byard Fritts of Tacoma, WA, and installed in 1979. The Stations of the Cross were designed and carved in soapstone by Alaska artist Donna Standerwick.

The later history of the church parallels the history of Sitka itself-- financial ups and downs, changes in congregations and ministries, devotion to community service, dedication to its mission. The church has moved from mission status to an autonomous parish.

A See House Feasibility Study, dated July, 1993, was done by Marilyn Knapp. It concerns the collections, staffing, funding, facilities, and programs of the prospective museum. A Restoration Committee was appointed to follow through on this study. The 2100 Project was launched to raise funds for the restoration of the Church and See House. To date, $176,000 has been raised and is now being spent on the restoration in progress. More funds will be needed to complete the project of restoring the See House to its original state. When this restoration is completed, the See House is envisioned to be a museum to house the valuable artifacts, such as the Bishop's traveling medical chest, a traveling pump organ, Communion set and the Bishop's papers. These artifacts are the items that the Bishop carried with him by dog sled during his yearly journeys through the interior of Alaska. He was affectionately known, in the House of Bishops, as the Dog-sled Bishop.

Excerpts from this St. Peter's Church History were compiled and written by Nancy Ricketts, Archivist. All of the material in this article came from documents and early histories of the parish contained in the church archives.