History

Christ Episcopal Church had its beginning over one hundred twenty years ago in the community of early residents on Sausalito's hillside. English and American settlers joined together to worship from the Book of Common Prayer and a celebration of the Eucharist took place in a barn near the present site of Christ Church. Monthly celebration of the Eucharist continued through the missionary efforts of the first Bishop of California, The Right Reverend William Ingraham Kip, assisted by The Reverend William Morrison. A Sunday School was also established.

Arrival of the railroad in 1878 with its need for increased ferry service to San Francisco spurred the sale of lots by the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company and the small community began to grow. New families interested in Sunday worship began working toward erecting a church and hiring a rector. Frances Reed Rideout, daughter of the first rector of Christ Church, wrote later that "a fund was set up and added to in the usual ways, by bazaars, concerts, and theatrical amateurs. With this, and donations, it was soon possible to buy the lot at the intersection of Santa Rosa and San Carlos Avenues."

When completed in 1882, the church building stood alone on its windswept site, with white painted windows and a tower with no bell. Its chancel was a box-like space with board walls, three tall lancet windows with painted design forming the rear of it above a small white altar of the pedestal type. It was furnished only with a high-backed seat fronted by a priedieu, and a plain wooden lectern. The communion rail was simply a rail. Worshipers entered the church through a door in the bell tower.

The Reverend Fredrick W. Reed, first rector, arrived in 1883 and celebrated his first Eucharist in Sausalito on September twenty-ninth. One year later, The Church Times of San Francisco reported that seven stained glass windows and a new chapel organ had been added, and fund raising was underway for the construction of a rectory. "A churchwoman gave $100 for a new altar and reredos now under construction," said the article, "and the Sunday School children provided for a new lectern and prayer desk." The report added that "all these improvements were paid for at the time and the church is not, and never has been, in debt.

The first bell, a gift of the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company had been used earlier as a fog bell on the wharf. It continued to serve the town as a fire alarm. In 1955, a three hundred pound bronze bell cast in the Netherlands replaced it, the gift of Thomas Claussen. The original bell is still in use in St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, Bolinas, California.

In 1913, the entrance to the church was moved from the bell tower to a newly complete narthex. The surrounding brick courtyard, steps and walks were built in 1968, replacing an earlier courtyard.

On June 6, 1982, in the centennial year of its construction, Christ Episcopal Church was designated Sausalito historical landmark Number Five.