| In sharp contrast to the lusty growth of the 1840s and 1850s, the economic stagnation of Reconstruction Mississippi almost precluded the building of large, sophisticated structures designed to be current with the nation's architectural tastes. A rare exception, however, was the Church of the Holy Trinity, begun in 1870 by a newly formed Episcopal parish in Vicksburg. Indeed, when it was completed in 1894, Holy Trinity was considered the finest ecclesiastical building in Mississippi, and it is significant today as the most outstanding example of the Romanesque Revival style in the state. It was consecrated on 24 June 1894. The church boasts a stained-glass window memorializing the soldiers of the Confederacy and the Union who fell during the Siege of Vicksburg. The exterior was restored in 1998 under the direction of Belinda Stewart, architect. This building was individually listed on the National Register on 22 May 1978. It was later included as element #51 in the Uptown Vicksburg Historic District, which was placed on the National Register on 19 August 1993, and it was more recently included as element #55 in the Uptown Vicksburg Amendment and Boundary Increase No. 2, which was added to the National Register on 4 February 2020. It is included in the "Inventory of the Church Archives of Mississippi – Protestant Episcopal Church – Diocese of Mississippi" (1940) (#70, pp. 92-93), "Shrines to Tomorrow" (1971), "Old Homes of Mississippi, Volume I: Natchez and the South" (1977, 1979) (p. 91), the "Historic Vicksburg Walking Tour Guide" (1987) (#15, pp. 16-17), "Vicksburg (Images of America)" (1999) (p.14), "Historic Churches of Mississippi" (2007) (p. 155), and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p.74, YB9). |