DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth tellin'. It starts with a single priest and a long ride into uncertain country. The year was 1857, and the Rev.
Lucius H. Jones made what the records call the earliest Episcopal visit to Corpus Christi. Just a visit.
A beginning — though nobody could've known yet what it would grow into. Three years later, in 1860, a congregation was formally organized. Not in a grand stone church, mind you.
On the second floor of the Nueces County Courthouse. You work with what you've got out on the frontier. Bishop Alexander Gregg appointed the Rev.
S.D. Davenport as the first minister, and the women of the congregation wasted no time. They organized a group called the Dorcas Sewing Society, which over the years provided much of the support that kept this church standing — and standing tall.
But the early years? The marker doesn't mince words. They were difficult ones.
Corpus Christi sat right on the edge of the frontier, and then the Civil War came rolling in like a storm off the Gulf. From 1862 until the end of the war, there are no recorded meetings. None.
And after that silence lifted, the congregation went without a minister for almost eleven years. Eleven years. That's a long time to hold something together.
They held it together. By the late 1870s, the Church of the Good Shepherd had constructed its first permanent building — a real one, planted at the corner of Taylor and Chaparral streets. More facilities came after that, and then in 1926, the congregation moved to the location it still calls home.
From a priest passing through in 1857, to a courthouse second floor, through war and silence and eleven lean years, to a permanent corner, and then a new home — the Church of the Good Shepherd kept its emphasis on Christian education, ecumenical cooperation, and missionary work in Corpus Christi all the way through. Some things, it turns out, are worth organizin' on the second floor of a courthouse for.
What the marker says
The earliest recorded visit of an Episcopal priest to Corpus Christi was that of the Rev. Lucius H. Jones in 1857. Three years later, a congregation was formally organized on the second floor of the Nueces County Courthouse. Bishop Alexander Gregg appointed the Rev. S.D. Davenport as the first minister. The women of the congregation soon organized a group known as the Dorcas Sewing Society, which over the years has provided much support to the church. The early years of the church were difficult ones. Corpus Christi's location on the edge of the frontier and the coming of the Civil War contributed to this difficulty. There are no recorded meetings of the church from 1862 until the end of the Civil War, and the congregation was without a minister for almost 11 years. During the late 1870s, the Church of the Good Shepherd constructed its first permanent building at the corner of Taylor and Chaparral streets. Additional facilities were built later, and in 1926 the congregation moved to its current location. Over the years, the church has emphasized programs of Christian education, ecumenical cooperation, and missionary activity in Corpus Christi. (1985)