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The Episcopal Church in Porter County has its roots in several small earlier congregations. In the early 1860’s there was a small number of Episcopalians in Porter County who held twice-monthly services. This group, named the Church of the Holy Communion, struggled to survive. Changes caused by the Civil War ended the group.
In 1864, a group of German Lutherans left their own denomination for the Episcopal Church. They too called themselves the Church of the Holy Communion. Their rector, Wilhelm Jahn, held worship services in German for some 200 communicants in space rented from Valparaiso University. Father Jahn took a trip out West to raise funds to build a church for the new congregation. Sadly, Father Jahn was “shot in a guerilla raid [meaning by combatants in the Civil War] while riding on the north Missouri Railroad” according to a report published in the American Quarterly Review in 1865. After Father Jahn was killed, another German-speaking rector was assigned to the Valparaiso church. By 1867, however, the congregation was, once again, no longer affiliated with the Episcopal Church.
In the 1880’s, according to Claribel Dodd Smith, whose family moved from New England to Porter County, Episcopal services were held in private homes in Valparaiso. Whether members from the earlier congregations attended is not made clear. The celebrant, Father Moore, would pick up worshipers in his sleigh for services in winter. In the 1890’s, services were held in larger venues - at one time at Moltz’s jewelry store, across from the Courthouse on Lincolnway, and, at a later period, above a hardware store.