Rev. G.C Bode served the Parish until 1862, to be succeeded by the Rev. J.H. Johnson, who was Vicar for the next sixteen years. Rev. Johnson applied himself industriously to erecting a more suitable place of worship and it was during his time that the first section of the present Holy Trinity Church was built in 1868. The original church was large for those early days. It consisted of the present Nave built of granite and basalt. The blue granite was quarried from the grounds where the hospital now stands. James Benjamin Winstanley, a convict settler, constructed the roof. He and his wife, Priscilla had lived in Sydney until the early 1850’s when they went searching for gold at Dundee. He was the holder of a timber licence. The Winstanleys are buried in the Glen Innes cemetery.
The building weathered the years so well that no new church building was needed to replace it. In May 1874 a travelling reporter of the Town and Country Journal described the Church of England at Glen Innes as: “a handsome edifice built of bluestone, at a cost of £1,200. The interior is tastefully fitted up, particularly the Chancel, which has a beautiful altar cloth of scarlet and gold.” The Examiner dated 23rd December 1874 reported that a memorial window was added to the church: “The window was purchased by the members of the Church in memory of Miss Martin who for some years led the musical services at the church, and who at the early age of 19 years was removed from our midst by the hand of death. So great was the respect in which she was held that the present memorial window has been raised in the Chancel of Holy Trinity Church to her memory. The window is of very fine work of colonial art, and reflects much credit on Messrs. Lyon and Cottier of Sydney from whom it was obtained. The figures represented are St. John and St. Cecilia, the former with scroll and pen the latter with an organ. Underneath the figures the following inscription appears: In memory of Emily, daughter of James Martin, of this place, who went to her rest on 30th January 1874; aged 19.”
The window no longer exists. It was blown out in a storm years later. The Glen Innes Examiner of the 23rd December 1874 notes that a Divine Service was held: “on Christmas morning at 11 o’clock and also that a midnight service was held at 11 to 12 o’clock p.m. by Rev. J. H. Johnson B.A. on New Year’s Eve.”