Historic Churches in Texas: Through the Lens Series, Volume II

By William

Before independence from Mexico in 1836, the Catholic faith was the only religion settlers in Texas, known as Texians, could legally practice. To acquire land in Texas, then a part of Mexico known as Coahuila y Tejas, one had to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church or agree to convert to Catholicism. Although a few Protestant church buildings were erected before Texas's independence in 1836, most were erected after 1836 because of Mexico's strict laws prohibiting and often severe punishment for practicing any faith other than Catholicism. The few Protestant church buildings that were erected prior to Texas independence were usually erected along the margins of Texas in the more remote regions of North and East Texas, distancing themselves from Mexico's center of government in San Antonio. The first Protestant church established in Texas that has been in continuous service was organized by the Reverend Milton Estill in 1833 as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Old Shiloh, a small community located about four miles north of Clarksville. In 1848, the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Congregation joined with the Presbyterian congregation in Clarksville to become the First Presbyterian Church, Clarksville. The First Presbyterian Congregation in Clarksville is recognized as the oldest Protestant church in continuous service in the state of Texas. After Texians won their independence in 1836, religious congregations began to meet openly and to build houses of worship. Most of these early church buildings were poorly built and did not survive the ravages of time. Eventually, stronger buildings were erected. But even then, with open fireplaces and wood-burning stoves providing heat and candles or kerosene lanterns providing the primary source of light, church buildings were often destroyed by accidental fires. In addition, with time, congregations often outgrew their vintage church buildings or could no longer afford the high cost of maintaining the older, outdated buildings. As a result, congregations abandoned them to erect larger and often more elaborate edifices. Once abandoned, the old church buildings were razed or, if left standing, rapidly deteriorated. Over the past twelve years, my wife and I have visited and photographed almost one thousand historic churches in Texas. Photographing these historic church buildings and learning about the pioneers that often at great risk founded and maintained them has been a project of love. Visiting these historic churches and meeting the people that maintain them today has been inspirational.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646705856

Book preview

Introduction

Historic Churches in Texas Through the Lens Series Volume II is the second in a series of books planned to document and preserve the amazing history of historic churches in Texas. The 172 historic churches photographed and discussed in this volume are arranged by denomination, and within each denomination, the churches are arranged from the oldest established congregation to the newest. The introduction to the first volume serves this book well. However, for those that have not read the first book, an abbreviated version of that introduction is offered here. The introduction to each chapter remains largely the same as that found in the first volume.

Before independence from Mexico in 1836, the Catholic faith was the only religion settlers in Texas, known as Texians, could legally practice. To acquire land in Texas, then a part of Mexico known as Coahuila y Tejas, one had to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church or agree to convert to Catholicism. Encouraged by traveling Protestant preachers, many early Texians continued to practice their Protestant faith secretly in the privacy of their homes. Although a few Protestant church buildings were erected before Texas’s independence in 1836, most were erected after 1836 because of Mexico’s strict laws prohibiting and often severe punishment for practicing any faith other than Catholicism. The few Protestant church buildings that were erected prior to Texas independence were usually erected along the margins of Texas in the more remote regions of North and East Texas, distancing themselves from Mexico’s center of government in San Antonio.

Despite the risks, Protestant preachers arrived in Texas as early as 1815 when Methodist William J. Stevenson became the first Protestant preacher to hold services in Texas. In 1833, Stevenson’s son, James P. Stevenson, organized the McMahan Chapel in East Texas; recognized as the oldest still active Methodist church in Texas.

In 1822, the Reverend Freeman Smalley, a Baptist missionary from Clinton County, Ohio, was the first ordained Baptist minister to preach in Texas. The Reverend Smalley held services on the Texas side of the Red River in North Texas at Pecan Point. Interestingly, it was at Pecan Point that in 1815 Methodist minister William J. Stevenson delivered the first Protestant sermon in Texas. Old Pilgrim Church located near Elkhart, originally known as Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church, was organized by the Reverend Daniel Parker in 1833 and is recognized as the oldest Baptist congregation continuously practicing in Texas. The Reverend Parker held the congregations first service in Texas in January 1834 near the site of the present town of Anderson. In 1835, the congregation moved to its present location near Elkhart in East Texas.

However, the first Protestant church established in Texas was organized in by the Reverend Milton Estill in 1833 as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Old Shiloh; a small community located about four miles north of Clarksville. In 1848, the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Congregation joined with the Presbyterian congregation in Clarksville to become the First Presbyterian Church, Clarksville. The first Presbyterian Congregation in Clarksville is recognized as the oldest Protestant church in continuous service in the state of Texas.

After Texians won their independence in 1836, religious congregations began to meet openly and to build houses of worship. Most of these early church buildings were poorly built and did not survive the ravages of time. Eventually, stronger buildings were erected. But even then, with open fireplaces and wood burning stoves providing heat and candles or kerosene lanterns providing the primary source of light church buildings were often destroyed by accidental fires. In addition, with time, congregations often outgrew their vintage church buildings or could no longer afford the high cost of maintaining the older, outdated buildings. As a result, congregations often abandoned them to erect larger and often more elaborate edifices. Once abandoned, the old church buildings were razed or, if left standing, rapidly deteriorated.

Over the past twelve years, my wife and I have visited and photographed almost one thousand historic churches in Texas. Photographing these historic church buildings and learning about the pioneers that often at great risk founded and maintained them has been a project of love. Visiting these historic churches and meeting the people that maintain them today has been inspirational.

Permission to use the sanctuary photographs was granted by each church administration or, in some cases, by their governing bodies.

Chapter 1

The Catholic Church in Texas

In 1835, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, president of Mexico, suspended the 1824 Mexican Constitution leading to the Texas Revolution and the birth of the Republic of Texas in April 1836. As a result of the Mexican secularization of the Catholic missions prior to 1830 and the turmoil caused by events leading up to and including the Texas Revolution, by 1836, the Catholic Church in Texas found itself in decline. In 1838, Bishop Anthony Blanc of New Orleans selected Vincentian Father John Timon to head a mission to Texas to determine the reasons for Catholicism’s decline after Texas’s independence from Mexico. From December 26, 1838, to January 12, 1839, Father Timon, accompanied by Father Francis Liebaria, traveled in Texas seeking the answers for the churches decline. The two priests reported that although the Catholic faith remained strong with the Mexican population of Texas, there were too few priests to minister to both the Mexican population and to the new immigrants pouring into the vast, open frontier of the new republic. As a result of their report, the Vincentians, a congregation of secular priests with religious vows founded by St. Vincent de Paul in 1625, were given responsibility for reestablishing Catholicism in Texas.

On May 4, 1847, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Galveston and named Vincentian Father Jean Marie Odin the first Catholic bishop for Texas. In 1852, the Vincentians withdrew from Texas and did not return until 1905. Bishop Odin, however, continued his service as bishop until 1862. He was the last Vincentian to serve as a bishop in Texas. It was through Bishop Odin’s tireless effort that the Catholic Church in Texas was revived. Bishop Odin is considered to be the founder of the modern Catholic Church in Texas.

Saint Louis Catholic Church, Castroville

County: Medina

Organized: 1844

Church Completed: 1870

Architecture: Gothic Revival

Location: 610 Madrid Street

Henri Castro with an empresario contract from the Republic of Texas dated January 15, 1842, recruited families from Europe to populate Castroville, a new colony in Central Texas. The majority of the colonists were French Alsatians, thus the slogan Castroville, The Little Alsace of Texas. On September 3, 1844, Henri Castro and his followers settled on a site near the Medina River, twenty-five miles west of San Antonio and on September 12, 1844, Vicar-General Jean Marie Odin, the first Catholic Bishop of Texas, created Saint Louis Catholic Parish and laid the cornerstone for its first church building.

In February 1845, Father John Gregor Pflanner arrived in Castroville to serve as Saint Louis Parish’s first priest. Construction on the church had stopped, and upon his arrival, Father Pflanner encouraged the colonists to complete the church building. Unfortunately, Father Pflanner left Castroville before the building was completed, and without a priest to encourage them, the colonist once again stopped construction on the church. Henri Castro, in an effort to motivate the colonists, offered them a chance to pay off their debts by working on the construction of the new church. A small one-room church was finally completed and dedicated by Vicar-General Odin on November 9, 1846. This was the first church building built in Castroville.

In January 1847, Father Claude Marie Dubuis arrived in Castroville, and it was during his pastorate the congregation erected a larger edifice. A new stone edifice was completed in 1850. Although replaced in 1870, the little stone church still stands on the grounds of the nearby Moye Retreat Center adjacent to the present Saint Louis Church.

The congregation soon outgrew the 1850 vintage church building, and a third church building was planned and built during the pastorate of Father Peter Richard. Father Richard came to Castroville from Loire France in early 1868 and on July 2, 1868, and the Most Reverend Claude Dubuis returned as Bishop of Texas to lay the cornerstone for the present church building. The church, like the one before it, was built from locally quarried limestone. The first Mass was celebrated in the Sanctuary by Father Richard on August 25, 1870. Later, in 1908, the original spire was replaced with the present 110-foot spire and beautiful stained-glass windows were added.

A renovation was completed in 1973, and the church was rededicated on June 24 of that year. The original altars, statuary and locally built pews were preserved and are still in use today.

Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church, Refugio

County: Refugio

Organized: 1845

Church Completed: 1901

Architecture: Victorian/Romanesque

Location: 1008 South Alamo Street

Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church can trace its history to Spanish held Texas when on February 4, 1791, Fathers Manuel J. de Silva and Francisco Garza, Franciscan friars from Mexico, organized what would be the last of the Texas missions. It was originally located near Matagorda Bay. Indian attacks forced Father de Silva to make several moves; the last move being to the church’s present location in Refugio. Father de Silva formally dedicated the Nuestra Senora del Refugio Mission on January 10, 1795. Although the original mission no longer exists, it is believed it was built of stone with a wood roof and tile floors.

Continued Indian attacks by both the Karankawa and later the Comanche led to the gradual abandonment of the Refugio Mission. In 1824, the Refugio Mission was secularized and closed by the governor. The church records, mass vestments, and books were moved to Espiritu Santo Mission in La Bahia (present-day Goliad) from where they have since disappeared. Six years later, the Refugio Mission was abandoned, and it fell into complete disrepair.

Impresarios James Power and James Hewetson were given a contract by the Mexican government in 1828 to settle Irish Catholics and Mexican families in the region. By the 1830s, Irish Catholic immigrants began to settle in the Refugio area, and by 1845, Our Lady of Refuge Catholic church was reborn. A second sanctuary was built over the ruins of the first. It was a small chapel built using the stones and materials that remained from the old mission. The chapel was, in fact, too small to accommodate the influx of settlers after the American Civil War and a third sanctuary, known as the Rock Church, was built on the site of the original mission. It was completed in 1868.

In 1901, during the pastorate of Father B.J. Donada, the 1868 sanctuary was razed, and a fourth sanctuary was erected. The parish hired Texas architect James Wahrenberger to design the impressive wood-frame Victorian and Romanesque style building with its 105-foot-tall bell tower. The church was dedicated by Bishop P. Verdaguer on April 24, 1901.

The beautiful Baptism of Christ stained-glass window was added in 1913, and the other equally inspiring stained-glass windows were imported from Munich, Germany, and placed in the church in 1930.

A complete restoration of the church building was accomplished in 1976. The pressed tin walls were repainted and the elaborate altars retouched with gold leaf. The carved wood baptismal font, a part of the original furnishings, was refinished.

Saint Augustine Catholic Church, San Augustine

County: San Augustine

Organized: 1847

Church Completed: 1937

Architecture: Carpenter Gothic

Location: 102 West Market Street

Catholics in the San Augustine area have been worshiping together since Franciscan Missionary Padre Fray Antonio Margil De Jesus first held Mass in 1716 along the banks of the Ayish Bayou near the present town of San Augustine. The Franciscan missionaries established the Mission Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores De Los Ais and occasionally visiting priests held Mass at the old mission. On May 4, 1847, the Catholic Diocese of Galveston recognized mission status for Saint Augustine Catholic Congregation. The Reverend L.C.M. Cambodut was sent to be the mission’s first pastor. Saint Augustine Church remained a mission until 1875.

On April 10, 1880, during the pastorate of Reverend Thomas Hennessy, Mr. M.C. Tynan deeded property to the parish for the purpose of building a church. The parish completed their first sanctuary in 1881 and dedicated it on the Feast of Corpus Christi day in that year.

By the early 1930s, the parish had outgrown the 1881 church building and replaced it in 1937 with the present carpenter Gothic sanctuary. On December 5, 1937, the church building was blessed by the Most Reverend Bishop Byren of Galveston and was named Saint James Catholic Church after the patron saint of laborers.

When the Diocese of Beaumont formed in 1966 from the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, the diocese renamed the parish Saint Augustine. To accommodate future growth, the parish purchased twenty-one acres of land along the original El Camino Real Road; the same road traveled by Father Antonio Margil De Jesus three hundred years ago.

Corpus Christi Cathedral, Corpus Christi

County: Nueces County

Organized: 1853

Church Completed: 1940

Architecture: Spanish Mission

Location: 505 North Upper Broadway Street

On March 1, 1940, the cornerstone for Corpus Christi Cathedral was laid, and on July 17, 1940, the new cathedral was competed and dedicated. The Corpus Christi Cathedral is the second structure to serve as cathedral for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, the first being Saint Patrick’s Church which was elevated to that status when the Diocese of Corpus Christi was created on March 23, 1912.

The first record of a Catholic priest visiting the Corpus Christi area is that of Father James Fitzgerald who in 1845 held Mass in the homes of Richard Power and Cornelius Cahill. In 1853, Father Bernard O’Reilly became the first resident Catholic pastor assigned to Corpus Christi. That same year, Mr. H.L. Kinney donated property for a new Catholic Church on Tanchua Street, and by 1855, services were being held in the still incomplete Saint Patrick’s Church building. The church, named Saint Patrick’s in recognition of the Irish heritage of many of the parishioners, was finished in 1857. It was described as a rectangular adobe structure with a small bell tower above the middle of the facade. The plain glass windows were covered with solid board shutters.

In 1874, the vicariate apostolic of Brownville was created, and the Rt. Reverend Dominic Manucy, the first vicar apostolic of Brownsville, moved to Corpus Christ in 1875. Upon his arrival, he found Saint Patrick’s Church in disrepair and commissioned architect Charles Carroll to design and build a new church building. In 1880, work began on the new edifice located behind the first church on Carancahua and Antelope streets. Services were first held in the new Saint Patrick’s Church in November 1882. The old church was razed later that year. In 1884, Father Claude Jaillet was assigned to Saint Patrick Church as it pastor and served there for forty-five years.

On June 8, 1913, the Reverend Paul Nussbaum was named the first bishop of the new Diocese of Corpus Christi. The bishop faced unprecedented hardships during his seven-year tenure. The influx of Mexican refugees during the 1909–1913 Mexican Revolution almost exhausted the diocese resources, and a hurricane in 1919 caused significant damage and loss of life. However, possibly, the most devastating event of all was the influenza epidemic of 1919. It left many parish members dead, including most of the bishop’s staff. Bishop Nussbaum resigned in 1920, and Pius XII appointed Emmanuel B. Ledvina to succeed him on Jul 21, 1921.

After a fire damaged Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in 1938, the John G. Kenedy family donated the cathedral’s present property at Upper Broadway and Lipan streets to build a new cathedral. Architect C. L. Monnot of Oklahoma was commissioned to design and build the present church building. The Spanish Mission style building he designed has two asymmetrical to tower domes—124 feet and 97 feet in height. The three bells from the old cathedral were transferred to the shorter tower, and the taller tower holds a thirty-two-bell carillon. Renowned artists at Emll Frei, Inc. of St. Louis designed and installed the magnificent stained-glass windows.

The last Mass was held in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on February 8, 1951, after which the old church was dismantled and the name was passed on to a new parish.

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church, Saint Hedwig

County: Bexar

Organized: 1855

Church Completed: 1868

Architecture: Gothic Revival

Location: 14011 FM1346, 16 miles East of San Antonio

Significance: Second oldest Polish church in the USA. Established shortly after Polish settlers organized the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at Panna Maria.

Franciscan Priest Leopold Moczygembo came to Texas in 1852 and was ministering to settlements around San Antonio when he wrote a series of letters to his family in Poland, expounding the opportunities in Texas. In his letters, he urged his family and friends to come to Texas. In 1854, about one hundred Silesian families responded to Father Leopold’s letters. Driven by the poor economic conditions, government oppression, and epidemics of typhoid and cholera in Poland, they made the hard decision to leave their homes for the new world. Although most of these families settled in the town of Panna Maria, located forty miles to the south of St. Hedwig, in December 1854, thirteen families settled near Martinez Creek on land owned by John Demmer. Here in 1855, the new settlers organized Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church. The town was originally named Martinez, but in 1872, its name was changed to St. Hedwig in honor of Silesia’s patron saint.

In 1857, Father Julian Przyslecki and the residents of St. Hedwig built a thatched-roof, log church on the land donated by Ludwig Zaiontz. Father Przyslecki was the first priest to serve the small congregation. Unfortunately, in 1863, Father Przyslecki suffered a fatal fall from his horse, leaving the congregation without a Polish-speaking priest. The congregation was for a period of time dependent on visiting traveling priests.

In 1868, the present Gothic-style stone church building was completed and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The nave of the church is crowned by a ribbed vaulted ceiling characteristic of Gothic architecture, and light is provided, in part, by beautiful crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling along the center aisle. Along the walls between the stained-glass windows, on the altars and in the narthex, are statues that have been donated to the church. During a 1993 restoration of the church, a mural with Pope John Paul II, Black Madonna, St. Hedwig, and angels were added on the wall in the apse behind the high altar.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rockport

County: Aransas

Organized: 1860

Church Completed: 1954

Architecture: Spanish Mission

Location: 704 Cornwall Street

Roman Catholic Church activity in Rockport can be traced to 1838 when Vincentian priest John Timon, later appointed Prefect Apostolic of Texas, visited the area to determine the reason for slow growth of the Catholic Church in Texas. The concern was that since the previous Spanish and Mexican governments allowed only Catholicism in Texas, there may be a backlash from the citizens. However, Father Timon found only two priests in the new Republic and determined that Catholicism suffered not from persecution but from neglect by the Church.

The first Catholic Mass was held in Rockport in 1860 at the home of county Judge John Hynes. For several years, worship services continued to be held at the judge’s home by mostly traveling priests from Refugio, located about thirty miles to the north.

In 1871, Major Wood deeded the church’s present property at the corner of Cornwall and Church streets to the Roman Catholic Church. The first church building was erected on the property in 1889. Unfortunately, the church building was almost immediately destroyed in a storm. A new edifice, a rectangular-shaped, wood-frame, clapboard building with four sash windows along each side and a centrally located bell tower was completed that same year.

In 1981, Father Gregory Deane had the church building completely renovated: stained-glass windows were installed, new chandeliers were hung, new carpet was laid, pews were refinished, and the interior was painted. During the 1980s, there was often standing room only crowds at Mass. In 1987, permission was given to enlarge the church building to a seating capacity of 650. The expansion was completed in 1988.

In 2013, during the pastorate of Father Reynaldo Yaris, the church was once again renovated to accommodate its parishioners. The church building was closed for six months during which time Mass was celebrated in the activity center/school gym. As part of the renovation, the nave was widened, all statues were restored, and new lighting and new pews were installed.

Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, Boerne

County: Kendall

Organized: 1860

Church Completed: 1866

Architecture: Spanish Mission

Location: 292 West Kronkosky

The German settlement of Tusculum was founded in 1849 and renamed Boerne in 1852. It was one of the five Latin colonies founded in Texas during the late 1840s by German political refugees. These Latin colonies were founded by young German intellectuals who devoted themselves to the arts and in search of utopia. However, they soon began migrating to larger cities, and the phenomenon of utopian Latin Settlements disappeared.

German Catholic families in Boerne and the surrounding area initially held Mass in private homes served by priests, traveling from San Fernando Cathedral in nearby San Antonio. By the early 1860s, the Most Reverend Claude Dubuis, second bishop of Texas, recognized the need for a church in Boerne and sent French immigrant Emil Fleury to organize a church for Boerne and the surrounding area.

Deacon Emil Fleury chose a property on a hill overlooking Cibolo Creek to build the church. Saint Pater’s Catholic Church, a small, vernacular limestone building, was completed in 1866. On January 21, 1868, Emil Fleury was ordained a priest in San Antonio and returned to Boerne to become the first resident pastor of Saint Peter’s Catholic Church. He served a short time, and in 1869 was transferred to Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church in New Braunfels.

By 1920, the parish had long outgrown the original 1866 church building and began construction on the present building, a Spanish Mission-style limestone and mortar building modeled after San Antonio’s Mission Conception. The new building was built nearby the original church building and dedicated in 1923. The altar, pews, and other religious items were moved to the new church building. The old church building was then used for parish hall meetings and for church events.

On October 17, 1999, Saint Peter’s Catholic Parish dedicated its third place of worship—an extension built on the backside of the 1923 building that can hold more than eight hundred parishioners.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Jefferson

County: Marion

Organized: 1863

Church Completed: 1996

Architecture: Carpenter Gothic

Location: 201 North Vale Street

In 1863, the first Catholic Mass in Jefferson was celebrated in the home of Eugene and Emma Meyer by Irish educated missionary Father Jean-Marie Giraud of France. Father Giraud became the parish’s first pastor. In 1986, Immaculate Conception Parish became one of the oldest original parishes of the newly formed Tyler Catholic Diocese.

The town of Jefferson is located on the Big Cypress Bayou at the head of the Red River Waterway and, as a result, prospered as a steamboat port city from 1845 to 1875. It was during this Golden Era that in 1866 the parish decided to build its first church building. Until then, the congregation had been meeting in the homes of its members. In April 1866, Father Giraud purchased property at the corner of Polk and Lafayette streets from James Murphy and Allen Urquhart for the purpose of erecting