Church Of The Advent
Location: 412 Oak Street, Farmington

“I drove my horse 3,000 miles each year, over the prairies, and held services in schoolhouses, wayside inns, the forest, in houses of worship loaned us by Christians of other commissions, and in our churches.” So wrote Episcopal Bishop Whipple who came to Minnesota in 1859 and is considered responsible for the design selection of the Church of the Advent at 412 Oak Street. Parishioners constructed the church in 1872, a year after the formation of the parish, based on a design appearing in Richard Upjohn’s 1852 book Upjohn’s Rural Architecture, Designs, Working Drawings, and Other Specifications for a Wooden Church and Other Rural Structures. Upjohn’s book was published in New York, where Whipple had been a clergyman. Many believe Bishop Whipple suggested the design book to the Farmington congregation. The Bishop consecrated the church in 1873.

The church is a fine example of small Gothic-Revival churches built in Minnesota under Bishop Whipple.