THE PHILLIPS LEGACY
In 1902 with the prodding of Bishop Talbot and Archdeacon Radcliffe, Rev. J.C. Collins, the new rector of Trinity was asked to look into starting an Episcopal Church in Shippensburg. Episcopal missions had been started in Waynesboro, Greencastle and Blue Ridge Summit and now was the time for Shippensburg Collins found an ally in John Clifford Phillips.
John Clifford Phillips was born in Bellefonte Pa. , the son of John and Emily Phillips. The Phillips had English roots and were wealthy for the times. Cliffy, as he was known by his friends, spend most of his boyhood days in Washington DC and later in life lived in New York City. It is unknown where and how he met and married his wife Retta Kelso Phillips but in 1893 they came to Shippensburg and John and his brother-in-law Samuel Kelso formed a partnership. Under the name of Phillips and Kelso they purchased the old foundry and machine shop on Washington St. and began a carriage and wagon business. After Samuel Kelso’s retirement, Phillips enlarged the plant and equipped it for the manufacture of furniture.
In 1901 the furniture factory of John E. Boher was destroyed by a fire. Boher’s plant was located just behind what is now the Christ Methodist Church, at the time it was the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the fire the Boher and Phillips partnership was formed and furniture continued to be made in the plant owned by Phillips. The business saw steady growth with shipments of fine furniture being sent up and down the east coast.
John Clifford Phillips was a cradle Episcopalian who had learned the teachings of the church very well. He was well regarded in the Diocese and had many friends in the Episcopal Church not only in the United States but in England. His brother was a Priest in the Washington DC area. With his backing services were held starting in 1901 in the Reformed Church by Bishop Talbot and Archdeacon Radcliffe and later Rev. Collins. When the Reform Church wasn’t available the Presbyterian Chapel was used and other times services were held in private homes. During this time Rev. Collins was named rector and Phillips was appointed treasurer of this unnamed mission.
In 1903 it was decided that a formal church organization should be set up and on April 29, 1904 papers were signed by Rev. Collins, Howard Mitten, John Phillips, Samuel Gamble and Joseph Mifflin. After many names were proposed John Phillips suggested St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church as a compliment to the large Scotch element in the community. Also on this date the first service was held in the new St. Andrew’s chapel, a room setup next to the press room of the local newspaper, The Shippensburg Chronicle, located on South Earl Street but that is another story.
After the mission church was started John Clifford Phillips saw the need for a building of its own but with the small number of members it would be impossible to raise enough money to build one. So he decided to finance the land and building on his own. Being a very humble man he devised a plan to finance the church where everyone would think the money came from the Diocese. Today this might be considered money laundering but what he did was brilliant. It had been figured that $10,000 was needed to start, that would be about $263,200 in today’s money. So he arranged to send a bank draft in the amount of $10,000 to the Men’s Thank Offering, a diocese program to help new churches, and they in turn would send a check back to him as treasurer of St. Andrew’s in the same amount. He managed to finance the land, $2000 and the church $12,000 in this manner without anyone locally knowing.
Besides financing the building of the church, John was very active in the affairs of the church. Besides being the first treasurer, he served on vestry and was an active lay reader. He also filled the pulpit when the rector was unable to be present and between rectors. As I mentioned before John Phillips was highly trained in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church and many times young priests were sent here to receive training from him. He did all this up to his death in 1925.
Even after his death St. Andrew’s still benefited. On April 20, 1930 his wife Anna Margareta Phillips dedicated the Molar pipe organ in John’s name. In 1992 proceeds from the Phillips estate paid for the building of the first part of the Parish Life Center and to present day an endowment in the Phillips family name is held by the Diocese for our use. We owe a lot to the memory of John Clifford Phillips.
Note: Since this has been written I have come to find out that John Phillips met and married Anna Margareta Kelso here in Shippensburg.