DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll take it from there. You're rolling through Sealy, Texas, and there's a story behind that name — and behind the little church that's weathered more than most. Saint John's Episcopal Church.
Let me set the scene. The railroad came through first. The town of Sealy was founded as a railroad town, and five years after that founding, in 1885, a congregation organized itself right along with the growing community.
Now, among the early supporters of that congregation was a man named George Sealy — a railroad official, and yes, the very man for whom the town was named. George Sealy also served on the missionary board of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, so when this congregation needed backing, it had friends in meaningful places. The congregation put up its first building in 1889, two blocks north of where the church stands today.
They built it, they used it, they worshipped in it. And then came 1900. If you know anything about Texas history, you feel that year coming.
The 1900 hurricane destroyed that first building. Gone. But Saint John's didn't disappear with it.
By 1910, a new church structure rose at this very site — the site where the marker stands today. And from that point forward, through all the years that followed, Saint John's has kept on serving Sealy with worship, with education, with outreach. A congregation that outlasted the storm that took its first home.
That's not nothing. That's Sealy.
What the marker says
This congregation was organized in 1885, five years after the railroad town of Sealy was founded. Among the church's early supporters was railroad official George Sealy, for whom the town was named and who served on the missionary board of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. The congregation's first building, erected two blocks north of this site in 1889, was destroyed in the 1900 hurricane. A new church structure was built at this site in 1910. Throughout its history, Saint John's Church has served the community with worship, educational, and outreach programs. (1992)