Helena Union Church

Duane's take

The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Now settle in, because this is a story about something rarer than a spring in West Texas: neighbors agreeing on how to pray. This is the Helena Union Church, Karnes County, and it starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do, with somebody deciding to do things differently.

As early as 1866, the Methodists were already holding services on this site, and here's the part worth remembering: their church was, by the terms they set for it, free to any Christian denomination for worship, and subject to use of the Helena School besides. That's not a small thing on the frontier. The trustees who kept faith with that arrangement were T.

K. Bailey, James D. Campbell, Thomas Chandler, Isaac Conway, D.

I. Johnson, Hiram McLand, and William C. Mayfield.

Seven names worth saying out loud. Then comes 1875. Helena is humming along as the county seat, a town of a thousand people, which was not nothing out here.

That group of fifty-eight subscribers, with John Ruckman serving as treasurer and T. K. Bailey as secretary, put their names and their dollars on the line.

Seven hundred and forty-six dollars total, raised to build what they called the Helena Union Church, right on that same site. And they weren't cutting corners either. The agreement called for first class pine lumber, covered with juniper shingles.

You can almost smell it. Now here is where the architecture of the thing gets interesting, and I don't mean the lumber. The church was to have exactly three trustees, one each from the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian faiths.

Three denominations, one building, one roof of juniper shingles over all of them. The congregations took turns holding services, and the townspeople, well, the townspeople attended all of them, regardless of differences in creed. The building was open to all Orthodox faiths, the circuit-riders came through and preached, and Helena carried on.

Protestant services continued until about 1925, and intermittently after that. For a brief spell in the early 1950s, Catholics used the building too. Then in 1969, the Old Helena Foundation moved and restored it.

One church built by fifty-eight subscribers on a frontier idea that people who disagreed about the fine points could still share a roof. Out here on the Texas road, that's not a footnote. That's the whole sermon.

What the marker says

Example of religious toleration in frontier Texas. Site was used early as 1866 by Methodists, whose church was "free to any Christian denomination for...worship, (and) subject to use of...Helena School". Trustees of that church were T. K. Bailey, James D. Campbell, Thomas Chandler, Isaac Conway, D. I. Johnson, Hiram McLand and William C. Mayfield. Helena Union Church (seen here) was built on same site in 1875 when Helena had 1,000 people and was county seat. A group of 58 (with John Ruckman, treasurer, and T. K. Bailey, secretary) subscribed $746 to build this church "of first class pine lumber...covered with...juniper shingles". The church was to have three trustees- one each from the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian faiths. The congregations took turns holding services; however, townspeople attended all services, regardless of differences in creed. Use of building was open to all Orthodox faiths. Early ministers were circuit-riders. Protestant services were continued until about 1925 and intermittently thereafter. Building was used by Catholics briefly in the early 1950s. Moved and restored 1969 by Old Helena Foundation.