Our History

St George’s Episcopal Church was created from two mission churches in Salinas – St George’s Mission, and Church of the Holy Spirit Mission – which combined as one church in 1972 and became a parish in 1976.

St. George’s Mission was founded in 1951 after a Daily Vacation Bible School was conducted at the 40-47 Club at the Salinas Air Base (now Salinas City Airport). Seventy-two children, many of them from other denominations, were enrolled.   The school was staffed by college and seminary students under the direction of the Rev. Richard Coombs, then rector of St. Paul’s Church.

Surplus Army barracks were obtained and located on property on Sanborn Road donated by Eugene Henry Sherwood of St. Paul’s. Families from St. Paul’s who lived in the Alisal area were asked to transfer to the new mission in order that they might support the work of the church in that area. The Rev. Jerome Politzer, newly graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary, was named Vicar, and served in that post for 17 years. Shortly before Father Politzer left, fire destroyed the original Parish Hall and damaged the church. The Rev. Andrew Daughters was called by the Bishop’s Committee in December of 1968.

Soon after the fire destroyed the original Parish Hall (July 1968), the Bishop’s Committee began to plan a new hall. A report of the Building Committee to the Bishop’s Committee in September of 1969 suggested St. George’s begin as soon as possible the construction of a Parish Hall and Sunday School complex including a kitchen and restrooms on the south side of the lot. Construction and furnishing of the building continued until the fall of 1970, when the building was completed and ready for occupancy.

The Church of the Holy Spirit was established in 1959 following a survey of the North Salinas area by members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew from St. George’s and St. Paul’s Churches. Again, members of St. Paul’s, those living in the North Salinas area, were asked to attend the new mission, which held its first services at the American Legion Hall on Laurel Drive. By 1961, minimal facilities had been built on land located on Alvin Drive.  During its first 1O years, this mission was served by eight different clergy, only one full-time.

Discussions about merging began formally in 1971, with the creation of a committee composed of members of both congregations. The final decision was to merge using the name St. George’s, but locating on the property of Church of the Holy Spirit in North Salinas. A resolution for this merger was passed by the Bishop’s Committees of both St. George’s and Church of the Holy Spirit Missions on May 14, 1972.

The newly built Parish Hall and a small, two-room building (the current Nursery building) were moved from St. George’s Sanborn Road property to the Alvin Drive location of the newly merged churches.

In 1976, St. George’s Mission applied to the Diocese of California for Parish status, which was granted at the Diocesan Convention that year.