Harper Presbyterian Church

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Harper Presbyterian Church. Back in 1881, a congregation came together out in Gillespie County under the name Barnett Spring Presbyterian Church. No grand building waiting for them, no steeple catching the light.

They met in a schoolhouse, which, when you think about it, is about as Texas as it gets. Humble start, sturdy people. Now, for twenty years that fellowship gathered and held on, and then in 1901 they made their move.

The congregation came to Harper, and they were ready to build something lasting. The land they built on was donated by a man named Arch Austin, and the sale of property given by R. W.

Crosley helped finance the construction. Two acts of generosity, one frame church rising up out of the Hill Country. Then in 1903, they went and did the thing that makes a church feel like a church.

They purchased a bell for the belfry. You could probably hear it carry across the county on a still morning. Now here is where the story gets a little interesting, because this building never did settle for just one purpose.

In 1906 the Harper School moved right in and held classes under that same roof. Then, if you can believe it, the 1940s came around and the school found its way back in again. In between and beyond, the building opened its doors as a worship site for other denominations too.

One frame church on donated land, a borrowed bell in the belfry, and more lives passed through those walls than you could easily count. That old Barnett Spring congregation might not have imagined all of that back in their schoolhouse in 1881. But then, the best stories rarely start out knowing where they're going.

What the marker says

Organized in 1881 as the Barnett Spring Presbyterian Church, this congregation originally met in a schoolhouse. The fellowship moved to Harper in 1901 and erected this frame church on land donated by Arch Austin. Sale of property given by R. W. Crosley helped finance the construction. In 1903 a bell was purchased for the belfry. This structure housed the Harper School in 1906 and again in the 1940s. It also served as a worship site for other denominations. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976