Crownover Chapel

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Crownover Chapel, out in Burnet County. Now, the Backbone Valley had a lot of firsts, the way any hard country does. First settlers, first hardships, first graves.

But this story is about a different kind of first. The first public building the whole valley ever had. It started in 1859, on a seven-acre tract.

The heirs of a settler named Jefferson Barton donated that land that very year, and folks got to work. Got to work, and then, well, life in a hard valley has a way of interrupting plans. The building wasn't finished until 1870.

Eleven years from start to finish. You think about what those eleven years held, and you understand why a finished chapel meant something. When it was done, it took the name of the Reverend Arter Crownover, born in 1810, gone in 1876.

His preaching of the Methodist faith is what opened that building to its purpose. A man whose years bracket the chapel's whole early life, and whose name it carries still. But a chapel in a valley like that can't afford to be just one thing.

Soon enough, that building was also housing a school. A school room was added later, though it was removed in time. The nearby cemetery came into use by 1872.

The valley was putting down roots the way valleys do, one building, one grave, one season at a time. And here is the part that lands a little differently than you might expect. That chapel, after all of it, still bears its original appearance.

Still used as a church and a community center. The Backbone Valley's first public building, still standing, still serving. Some things in Texas just refuse to be finished.

What the marker says

Backbone Valley's first public building, started 1859 on 7-acre tract donated that year by heirs of settler Jefferson Barton. Finished 1870, chapel was named for the Rev. Arter Crownover (1810-76), whose preaching of Methodist faith opened its use. Building soon also housed a school. The nearby cemetery was in use by 1872. A school room was added but later removed. Chapel now bears original appearance, and is used as church and community center. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972