Charles Sanford Olmsted (February 8, 1853 – October 21, 1918) was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado from 1902 to 1918.

[10] ` Olmsted was ordained as a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1876 by Bishop Horatio Potter.

[16] Cooperstown was a “charming village,” which lay in “the center of a vast missionary field.” Olmsted was “known as an able Parish Priest.” He traveled the area, “preaching in school houses and founding Sunday schools.”[17] Regarding the parish's buildings, he increased the size of the Church and built an Elizabethan Rectory.

[19] Also, during time in Cooperstown, Olmsted served as secretary of the board of trustees of the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour.

Bala was a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa. Because the parish was made up of “a few rich families,” it had few activities and no Sunday evening service.

He adopted the nearby Union Sunday School, made it a part of St. Asaph's, and left it with two hundred and fifty scholars.

On January 8, 1902, the election was held at a Special Council of the diocese convened at the “Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine” in Denver.

The letter was prefaced with “in the fear of God and with deep love for his faithful in the diocese of Colorado” and concluded with “may the great head of the church sustain me in this trust and grant me a merciful judgment at the latter day.”[25] Before Olmsted could be consecrated, Bishop Spalding died on March 8, 1902, leaving the diocese with only a “diocesan designate” until Olmsted was consecrated on May 1, 1902.

Activities as bishop In 1903, a newspaper story about Olmstead's preaching characterized him as “one of the foremost preacher’s in the Episcopal Church.”[34] On January 28, 1903, after attending the fifth annual convocation of the missionary district of Colorado, Bishop Olmsted addressed the students at Utah State University.

The stated purpose of the organization was “the maintenance and defense of the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Church.

He said, among other things, the following:[40] Henry Martyn Hart was a controversial dean of the Cathedral of St. John in the Wilderness in Denver, Colorado.

[45] On May 11, 1918, the Rochester, NY newspaper the Democrat and Chronicle announced that “Bishop Olmsted of Colorado has been taken ill.” His illness was the result of heart disease.