Fr. Patrick E. Bright, Rector, 6400 North Pennsylvania; Oklahoma City, OK 73116 - Phone: 405/842-1461

A Historical Perspective..........

All Souls' was conceived as a wartime mission to the children of Nichols Hills. At the time, Nichols Hills, now in the heart of the north Oklahoma City metropolitan area, was quite rural. Rationing of gasoline during the second world war prevented Nichols Hills residents, many of whom were members of St. Paul's Cathedral, from attending services and taking their children to Sunday School.

The Sunday School, or "junior church" as it was known, was chartered as a parochial mission by the vestry of St. Paul's Cathedral and The Right Reverend Thomas Casady, who become the first of many benefactors with a gift of $200. A small building, made of "non-critical materials" due to the war, was erected in what is now Grand Boulevard Park, and opened its doors on September 17, 1944. A stone, set during this fiftieth anniversary year, marks the approximate location of the altar of the chapel, near the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Huntington.

By the summer of 1945, adult interest in the little church had grown, and All Souls' status was changed to that of a diocesan mission. At this time, Bishop Casady gave All Souls' its name and patronal feast in memory of his own consecration on the feast of the commemoration of all faithful departed.

The years following the war brought on a great period of construction of our infant parish. The chapel in the park was expanded and outbuildings were added to accommodate more worshipers and more activities. The annual meeting of 1947 enthusiastically requested full parish status for our mission.

Ground was broken in 1954 for the parish house -- that portion of the building east of the sanctuary.

And the church proper, in unique frontier-gothic-tudor style, was added in 1958.

-Charles Newcomb