The first complete worship services connected to Christ Episcopal Church were held June 23, 1850, on Grandad Bluff on the eastern edge of La Crosse. Services were held in various homes and businesses occasionally thereafter. On February 10, 1857, Christ Episcopal Church was officially organized. Christ Church was the only church in Wisconsin to celebrate communion every week during 1860.
Christ Church’s first house of worship was constructed in 1863 at the corner of 9th and Main streets. This church was home to the first pipe organ in La Crosse and the first vested boys’ choir in Wisconsin. A new church facility on the same premises of the original (111 N. 9th St.) was dedicated September 10, 1899.
The architectural survey describes the structure as being constructed from gray and red sandstone quarried from Grandad Bluff, Romanesque in style with a Venetian Renaissance interior. The church was completed with a gothic cruciform shape with counter balancing buttresses, a 108 foot tower, and has two impressive leaded stained glass windows. A window, depicting a figure of Christ, was designed by the Tiffany Glass Decorating Co. of New York in 1898. This window underwent an extensive restoration process that began in August 2000 and was completed in November 2001.
A second stained glass window, the Window of the Beatitudes, also known as the Hixon window, was designed by Charles S. Connick of Boston. The window was given in memory of Frank Pennell Hixon by his widow, Alice E. Hixon and was dedicated on Oct. 15, 1933.
Vinter Hall, an addition that provided space for church school classes, offices and a nursery, was constructed in 1962. The church was presented with a Heritage Award in 1982 by the La Crosse Area Society for Historic Preservation for its outstanding efforts in historic preservation. In 1985, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
