diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1cae3f29a4..b15d26cb89 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 - @cosmjs/proto-signing: Add new package for handling transaction signing with
   protobuf encoding.
 - @cosmjs/stargate: Add new package for Cosmos SDK Stargate support.
+- @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc: Make `Client.detectVersion` private and let it return
+  a version instead of a client.
+- @cosmjs/tendermint-rpc: Add `Client.create` for creating a Tendermint client
+  given an RPC client.
 
 ## 0.23.1 (2020-10-27)
 
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.spec.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.spec.ts
index 8c1c1a37b6..b8d0235398 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.spec.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ function randomString(): string {
 }
 
 function defaultTestSuite(rpcFactory: () => RpcClient, adaptor: Adaptor, expected: ExpectedValues): void {
+  describe("create", () => {
+    it("can auto-discover Tendermint version and communicate", async () => {
+      pendingWithoutTendermint();
+      const client = await Client.create(rpcFactory());
+      const info = await client.abciInfo();
+      expect(info).toBeTruthy();
+      client.disconnect();
+    });
+  });
+
   it("can connect to tendermint with known version", async () => {
     pendingWithoutTendermint();
     const client = new Client(rpcFactory(), adaptor);
@@ -49,14 +59,6 @@ function defaultTestSuite(rpcFactory: () => RpcClient, adaptor: Adaptor, expecte
     client.disconnect();
   });
 
-  it("can auto-discover tendermint version and connect", async () => {
-    pendingWithoutTendermint();
-    const client = await Client.detectVersion(rpcFactory());
-    const info = await client.abciInfo();
-    expect(info).toBeTruthy();
-    client.disconnect();
-  });
-
   it("can get genesis", async () => {
     pendingWithoutTendermint();
     const client = new Client(rpcFactory(), adaptor);
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.ts
index b5845a751c..0b158c1e85 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/src/client.ts
@@ -14,13 +14,26 @@ import {
 } from "./rpcclients";
 
 export class Client {
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Tendermint client for the given endpoint.
+   *
+   * Uses HTTP when the URL schema is http or https. Uses WebSockets otherwise.
+   */
   public static async connect(url: string): Promise<Client> {
     const useHttp = url.startsWith("http://") || url.startsWith("https://");
-    const client = useHttp ? new HttpClient(url) : new WebsocketClient(url);
-    return this.detectVersion(client);
+    const rpcClient = useHttp ? new HttpClient(url) : new WebsocketClient(url);
+    return Client.create(rpcClient);
   }
 
-  public static async detectVersion(client: RpcClient): Promise<Client> {
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Tendermint client given an RPC client.
+   */
+  public static async create(rpcClient: RpcClient): Promise<Client> {
+    const version = await this.detectVersion(rpcClient);
+    return new Client(rpcClient, adaptorForVersion(version));
+  }
+
+  private static async detectVersion(client: RpcClient): Promise<string> {
     const req = createJsonRpcRequest(requests.Method.Status);
     const response = await client.execute(req);
     const result = response.result;
@@ -33,8 +46,7 @@ export class Client {
     if (typeof version !== "string") {
       throw new Error("Unrecognized version format: must be string");
     }
-
-    return new Client(client, adaptorForVersion(version));
+    return version;
   }
 
   private readonly client: RpcClient;
diff --git a/packages/tendermint-rpc/types/client.d.ts b/packages/tendermint-rpc/types/client.d.ts
index 92606f944f..5612c85392 100644
--- a/packages/tendermint-rpc/types/client.d.ts
+++ b/packages/tendermint-rpc/types/client.d.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,17 @@ import * as requests from "./requests";
 import * as responses from "./responses";
 import { RpcClient } from "./rpcclients";
 export declare class Client {
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Tendermint client for the given endpoint.
+   *
+   * Uses HTTP when the URL schema is http or https. Uses WebSockets otherwise.
+   */
   static connect(url: string): Promise<Client>;
-  static detectVersion(client: RpcClient): Promise<Client>;
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Tendermint client given an RPC client.
+   */
+  static create(rpcClient: RpcClient): Promise<Client>;
+  private static detectVersion;
   private readonly client;
   private readonly p;
   private readonly r;