Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1886) in Melbourne, Florida

The Holy Trinity congregation dates to 1884 and its first church building to 1886, according to the Florida historical marker placed in 2005.

The marker states that Holy Trinity Episcopal Church was first organized in 1884 and that the congregation put up its building in 1886 on the south side of Crane Creek. The same wooden building was moved in 1897, repaired and stuccoed in 1927, and moved to its present location in 1963, so the structure raised in 1886 outlasted two relocations and a new exterior finish. The marker does not name the 1963 site, and the parish's website gives the church's current address as 50 West Strawbridge Avenue in Melbourne.

The land and the design for Melbourne's 1886 Episcopal church came from one benefactor, Lucy Boardman, who according to the state marker donated the site and also provided plans for the building.

It was built of virgin Georgia heart pine, and that same wooden frame was later carried to two other Melbourne sites. The marker lists the founding members of the Melbourne congregation as the Goode, Campbell, Miller, Ely, Ellis and Grubb families as well as Hector, McBride, Gibbs and Mason. It gives no first names or dates of arrival for these households, so the marker alone does not say which individuals in each family belonged to the 1884 congregation.

The First Congregational Church of Melbourne, organized in 1887, is the other early Melbourne congregation with a 2013 state marker at 1824 South Harbor City Boulevard.

Its marker says the church began in 1887, when Edward Branch and his wife, Abbie, held regular Bible study and worship meetings, and that five men and seven women signed a covenant in December 1887. The Congregationalists built on a lot given in 1892 by W.H. Powell, a local businessman, at the corner of today's Strawbridge Avenue (then Second Street) and U.S. 1 (then Washington Street), and their steepled frame building was finished in 1893 for $2,065, with the first worship held there on July 2, 1893, a Sunday. Four large stucco-covered additions followed in 1929, two years after Holy Trinity's own building was stuccoed, and the marker says the Congregational building was sold on January 3, 2000, to His Place Ministries East Coast, Inc., to remain in use as a church. Read side by side, the two markers show early Melbourne congregations depending on donated land: Lucy Boardman's lot south of Crane Creek and W.T. Wells's lot at Fee Avenue and U.S. 1 for Holy Trinity, and Powell's corner lot for the Congregationalists.

The marker does not state a reason for the 1897 move, but it records that the first church stood south of Crane Creek and that members from the north side had to arrive by boat or, after 1895, by footbridge.

In 1897 the building was moved to land donated by W.T. Wells at the corner of Fee Avenue and U.S. 1, Melbourne. That corner is also where the marker itself stands today, according to its location note in the state record, so a visitor reading the plaque is standing at the church's second home rather than at its first site or its current one. The 1886 site south of Crane Creek is not given a street address on the marker.

The Melbourne church building was repaired and stuccoed in 1927 and moved to its present location in 1963, the state marker records.

The parish website lists Sunday services at 7:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. in its Historic Chapel using Traditional Rite I, and at 9 a.m. (Traditional Rite II) and 11:15 a.m. (Contemporary Rite II) in its Main Church, with the church at 50 West Strawbridge Avenue. Its mail and church office is at 1830 South Babcock Street, open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 321-723-5272. The home page does not say which building is the 1886 church, so the church office is the place to ask before visiting for its history.

No, Holy Trinity is not among the properties the City of Melbourne lists on its Historic Preservation page, which counts six individual historic resources plus one district designated by the city since 2006.

The city's list leans toward Eau Gallie and the New Haven Avenue corridor: it names the Eau Gallie Yacht Club at 1149 Houston Street, the Sea Lounge at 105 East Avenue B, 1393 Pineapple Avenue, 509 Palmetto Avenue, the Rossetter House at 1328 Houston Street and 1365 Highland Avenue, 418 East New Haven Avenue, and an Eau Gallie Historic District with 12 contributing resources. No church appears on it. The state marker for Holy Trinity is a separate, commemorative program and does not by itself place the building under city design review.

Melbourne's rules show what designation would involve. Owners of buildings at least 50 years old may apply, all owners must consent, there is no fee to apply, and the city pays for the Designation Report if the Historic and Architectural Review Board moves the petition forward. Once a property is designated, exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, issued at no cost, before a building permit is granted. Depending on the work, either the Historic Preservation Officer or the Historic and Architectural Review Board approves that certificate, and ordinary maintenance that needs no permit needs no certificate either. The Community Development Department handles applications at (321) 608-7500.

To enter the Melbourne Register of Historic Places, a resource must be significant in Melbourne's history, architecture, archaeology or culture, keep integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship or association, and meet at least one further test, such as association with significant people or events, or embodying a distinctive architectural style or period. A Brevard County church whose 1886 heart pine frame has been moved twice and stuccoed has a history that bears on the integrity test, which the city leaves to the review board to weigh.

The Melbourne parish founded a school on its grounds in 1957, and the Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy history says it has occupied the historic school grounds at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church since that time.

The Melbourne academy began as Holy Trinity Parish Day School with six classrooms, an office and 90 students, and the founding rector, the Reverend Alex Boyer, envisioned a community school with an emphasis on the basic subjects, small class size and spiritual guidance. In 2000 the academy added an Upper School for grades 7 through 12 on a 40-acre Pineda Campus, with a gymnasium, athletic stadium, chapel and 800-seat auditorium, and the original Parish Campus became the Lower School for preschool through grade 6. The first class of seniors graduated in 2003.

The academy lists its Lower School Campus at 1720 Peachtree St. and its Upper School Campus at 5625 Holy Trinity Dr., both in Melbourne, and the parish website gives the same Holy Trinity Drive address for the Upper School.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, by re-fetching the 2005 Holy Trinity marker and the First Congregational marker in the state record, the parish home page, the academy's history page and the City of Melbourne's Historic Preservation page.