Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Emmanuel Episcopal Church was organized October 17, 1863, and admitted as a parish the following year. It is the 12th oldest parish in the Diocese. The first services in the original chapel were held in October 1866 in the building known today as the Reverend Donald M. and Lucile V. Gury Parish House, which adjoins Emmanuel Church.

The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1890; the first services were held at Christmas in 1891; and the building was consecrated on Advent Sunday, December 1, 1895. Though it is the oldest continually operated house of worship in Hastings, renovations have made the building accessible to all, with an elevator that reaches every level.

A total of twenty-five rectors have served the parish. Our current rector is Mother Alicia Hager, who was called to Emmanuel in May of 2024.

We have also established and maintain a Memorial Garden adjacent to our sanctuary. Cremains of parishioners are interred there.

We enjoy and use our historic 1868 Odell Pipe Organ most Sundays. The organ was gifted to Emmanuel by St. Mark’s Episcopal in Grand Rapids in 1910 with the condition that Emmanuel would pay for the removal from St. Mark’s and the installation at Emmanuel. On November of the same year the instrument was ready and the first recital was held at Emmanuel.

The organ housed at Emmanuel prior to receiving the Odell was gifted to Grace Episcopal Church in Ludington, Michigan.

Via a lengthy and expensive capital campaign the historic organ was restored in the 1990s. The Odell, Opus 63 is registered with the Organ Historical Society, and is the only Odell organ in the state if Michigan. The organ consists of two manuals, or keyboards that operate two groups of pipes: the Great and the Swell. There are 21 ranks of pipes with a total of 1,097. 237 of the pipes are wooden, the largest being 19 feet long and 18″ in diameter, and the smallest being just nine inches with the diameter of a wooden match.