First mention of Jones and Johnston in Logan.

     In September of 1906, two new full-time resident clergymen arrive from Yale to take over operation of the mission of St. John's in Logan.

     They are the youngest leaders that the church in Logan had seen in its first thirty years and the first steadily available clergy in ten years.

     1906 saw the start of many changes in Logan. The Reverend Paul Jones and the Reverend Donald T. Johnston are remembered as two of the most important leaders of St. John's Episcopal Church in Logan who advocated for civic improvements and an active role of the congregation within the community. They have left marks that can still be seen in Logan today.

     This article in the Inter-Mountain Republican in January of 1907 describes some of the efforts that are undertaken within the first months of Jones and Johnston arriving in Logan. In a way that is noted in the article, "[t]hey treat members of the Mormon church just as they do members of every other church, and just as they do human beings of every faith and of no faith, wherever they find them." (1)

     They start a newsletter, The Portal, that was addressed to those in the religious and educational community of Logan. A reading room called the Common Room Club is established with the intent of inviting everyone in Logan to join in a discourse on religion and literature. The rectory was a place for the community to interact with the vicars and to learn about the Episcopal Church on a more personal level.

1. "About Their Father's Business." Inter-Mountain Republican, January 24, 1907. Page 1. University of Utah, Marriot Library, Utah Digital Newspaper. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6d22vm3/3889640

     While Rev. Jones and Rev. Johnston started many important services that were centered around St. John's, the pastor who replaced them as they moved on, E. T. Lewis, provided just as much leadership to the community going into the First World War. 

     Rev. Lewis increased the interactions with the communities of Cache Valley through participation with the Red Cross, the Logan Library, and other social services. (2) Rev. Lewis was on the board of trustees for both the library and the Red Cross. He was instrumental in combining St. John's Reading Room and several of the LDS stake libraries into the first collection at the Logan Library, located across the street from St. John's Episcopal Church.

2. "Archdeacon Reese at St. John's Church" Logan Republican, February 19, 1916. Page 5. University of Utah, Marriot Library, Utah Digital Newspaper. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6xw5hm1/4824638