Christ The King Catholic Church / Sands Art Center

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Out here in Ward County, the Catholics didn't wait around for a building to come to them. Starting in the mid-1920s, they held their religious services right where they stood, in their homes, gathering in living rooms and kitchens, making do with what they had.

And for years, that's exactly how it went. Then, in 1938, something changed. A donation came through, money and two lots right here on this very ground, and that congregation finally had what they needed to build.

What they put up was a modestly detailed structure, nothing flashy, nothing showy, just solid and purposeful, and they called it Christ the King Catholic Church. It fit the land and it fit the people. By 1954, the congregation had grown enough that they expanded the building, added to what they'd started.

But then, in 1961, they moved on, relocated, left the building standing quiet and empty. Now here's where the story turns on you, because that little church didn't sit idle for long. In 1965, the building became something else entirely: the Sands Art Center, a place for art workshops, exhibits, craft shows, and occasional community theatre.

Same walls, whole new voice. A congregation that once filled it with prayer made way for a community that filled it with color and craft and performance. That building carried everything it was asked to carry, and it's still here to prove it.

What the marker says

Area Catholics held religious services in their homes beginning in the mid-1920s until a donation of money and two lots here in 1938 enabled the congregation to construct this modestly detailed structure known as Christ the King Catholic Church. Although the building was expanded in 1954 the congregation relocated in 1961. In 1965 the building became the Sands Art Center for art workshops, exhibits, craft shows, and occasional community theatre. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1992