5 Most Beautiful Gothic Churches In Wyoming

Due to the state's small population, Wyoming church buildings often serve a number of denominations, and this is the case for the state's Gothic churches as well. Throughout Wyoming, you can discover Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ Gothic churches, some built in the simpler Carpenter style, others in full Gothic Revival, and still others with smaller Gothic elements in a rural setting.

The history of these churches is interesting as well, as some faced persecution due to being a part of immigrant communities, while others received support from overseas, giving them a distinctly European vibe without losing their American spirit.

With their American styles and Gothic features, these are 5 of the most beautiful Gothic churches in Wyoming.

Christ Episcopal Church

Douglass, Wyoming is a small community, originally laid out in 1886 to accommodate a railway station, and was named after Stephen A. Douglass, the Illinois Senator and opponent of Abraham Lincoln. The community is a humble place that still maintains its oldest church: the Christ Episcopal Church of Douglass.

Built in 1898, the church is designed in the Carpenter Gothic Style. This is a uniquely American take on the Gothic Revival style, which uses basic timber to recreate some of the touches and flourishes of the stone Gothic churches and cathedrals of the old world.

The Christ Episcopal Church is the only wooden church left in the city, designed by G.W.G. Van Winkle with a bell tower and four small spirals with crosses on top. Its other Gothic markers include lancet stained glass windows and a steep slanted roof. Below the bell tower is a simple clock. Because timber cannot maintain the high-sweeping architectural elements that stone allows in Gothic architecture, like vaulted ceilings and flying buttresses, the Carpenter Gothic Style exudes a humbler, quieter devotion.

Although the church is Episcopal, it has always maintained an ecumenical spirit, as multiple denominations used the church building for services in the early days of Douglass. Due to this historical importance, the church is on the National Register of Historic Places.

St. Matthew's Cathedral

St. Matthews Cathedral represents the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming in Laramie. The seat was established in 1868 by Reverend Ethelbert Talbot who worked to construct the Cathedral over the decades till its completion in 1896.

Like other Gothic Revival churches on this list, St. Matthews was built from sandstone that was quarried from the northwest. The church was built in a cruciform fashion, with the tower at the front entrance to the church. The tower was added in 1916 and measures 118 feet tall to the cross at the top of its spire. One interesting fact is that, with the town's elevation of 7,276 feet, this cathedral is the highest in the U.S.

The 11 bells in the tower are well known in Laramie, ringing every quarter hour and hour. There are two other towers in the back of the church, which suits its medieval Gothic style. Its lancet windows have several stained glass artwork, including ones from different cultures. For example, there's an East Asian-style representation of the Pearl of Great Price parable from the Bible in one of the stained glass windows.

France Memorial United Presbyterian Church

While the Gothic style is often associated with Catholic or Episcopal congregations, other denominations have also used the style to craft their own beautiful sacred spaces, including the Presbyterian Church. The oldest Presbyterian church in Wyoming is a Gothic Revival chapel called the France Memorial United Presbyterian Church in Rawlins.

It stands out amid all the churches in Rawlins as the only church made of stone. The name of the church came from James France, a banker who negotiated the church's mortgage and raised money to help pay it off. Today the church is home to the Victory Baptist Church.

The stone for the church was brought from the mountains just north of Rawlins. It has several traditional Gothic Revival features, from lancet windows to a pitched roof and a three-tiered tower. While the bottom two thirds are made of stone, the top third is made of wood that has been painted white.

Town residents have noted that the ceiling and lighting within give off a traditional feel, while the church itself has a humble understated nature that fits its Wyoming environment.

St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral is the official cathedral of the Diocese of Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming. The cathedral was built over the spot of a small brick church in the mid-1800s. As the community grew, so did the need for a larger church. Wyoming builder Moses Patrick Keefe built the church from 1906 to 1909.

The cathedral is 125 feet long by 70 feet wide, with its ceiling supported by steel and concrete arches finished with oak. The Gothic Revival Cathedral's exterior is made of sandstone taken from Iron Mountain. It has a single, massive tower, which can be seen throughout Cheyenne.

The cathedral has several beautiful features, like its two side galleries and vast Madonna window in the choir loft that was purchased from Europe. In 1992, the cathedral acquired a beautiful Visser-Rowland tracker pipe organ, made of many different types of wood, from Baltic basswood to Appalachian red oak. The stained glass windows in the cathedral were likely acquired from Desden, Germany, although none have any names attached to them.

St. Paul's United Church of Christ of Laramie

This church was initially a Lutheran congregation, established in 1886 to accommodate the German speaking population of Laramie, Wyoming. When a cornerstone was laid in 1890, a large number of clergy from different denominations attended its dedication, including the former governor of Wyoming Territory John Welsey Hoyt.

The church's design combines Gothic style markers such as a bell tower, lancet windows, and gablets on each side of the tower's roof. The lancet windows contain many stained glass windows.

The church's history is arguable more fascinating than its architectural elements, having changed its name multiple times to fit with changing religious structures. It was initially a part of the Evangelical Synod of Lutherans, but it then changed its name to St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church when the Evangelical Synod merged with the Reformed Church. Following another merger with the Congregational Christian Churches, St. Paul settled on its final name United Church of Christ.

It is the oldest church in Wyoming that still has the same congregation; however, the congregants have faced persecution over the years. During World War 1, many town residents suspected that the church was a spy operation for the German Empire. Due to this pressure, the church would gradually stop doing sermons in German, with the last German sermon preached in 1932.

The church also became the first congregation in Laramie to have an ordained female pastor in 1976.

Built with sandstone and spirit

These churches' beauty comes from the natural materials on hand that built them, such as the native sandstone from the mountains or the timber used for the Christ Episcopal Church. These churches also all reflect the spirit and grit of their communities, whether that be St. Paul's United Church of Christ continued to flourish in the wake of anti-German sentiments, or the France Memorial United Presbyterian Church finding new life as the home of the Victory Baptist Church.

These churches don't just copy European styles, they add their own flourishes, whether that's Appalachian oak in St. Mary's pipe organ or the carpenter clock tower in Christ Episcopal Church. Make sure to stop by and take a picture of these beautiful Gothic churches the next time you're in Wyoming.