William Ingraham Kip shortly after he arrived in San Francisco in 1854 as the first Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of California.

Services were initially held in the firehouse on North Market Street and then in City Hall.

[1] In 2017, Trinity Cathedral completed a project that expanded its 18-bell chime to a 24-bell carillon, making it only the third carillon in the Bay Area, along with Stanford's Hoover Tower and UC Berkeley's Campanile [2] The present church was designed by James W. Hammond, a retired sea captain and shipbuilder.

Hammond devised a plan by which the church building was cut in half and pulled apart by a team of horses.

[1][3] The front was shifted to face North Second Street and additional arms were added to create a structure in the form of a cross.