St. James Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Way back in 1878, the first Episcopal services in Taylor, Texas, were held by a man named the Reverend E. Wickens, a missionary working that stretch of country.

No grand sanctuary waiting for him, no pews in a row. Services were held in homes and in the opera house, wherever folks could gather. And Wickens wasn't the only churchman making the rounds.

The Right Reverend Alexander Gregg, the first Bishop of Texas, was making visitations out that way too. Now that's a pairing worth noting, a circuit missionary and the very first bishop of the whole state, both tending to the same small flock in Taylor. The congregation held on, met where it could, and kept the faith in borrowed spaces for years.

Then, in 1893, something permanent finally rose up. A church built of cypress, oak, and pine, completed that year in a traditional cruciform plan. That shape, the cross laid out in the very footprint of the building, wasn't incidental.

It was the whole statement. The congregation kept adding to it. In 1914, an organ was installed, and here's the part that'll stop you: that organ is still in use.

Still singing. The original stained glass windows are still there too, and so is the interior paneling, the same wood those early parishioners looked at when they finally had a place of their own to look at. From an opera house floor in 1878 to a cypress and pine cruciform church that's still standing, still playing, still glowing through original glass.

St. James Church in Taylor didn't happen overnight, but when it arrived, it arrived to stay.

What the marker says

First Episcopal services in Taylor were held 1878 by the Rev. E. Wickens, a missionary. Visitations were also made by the Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg, first Bishop of Texas. Services were in homes and opera house. This church of cypress, oak and pine woods was completed 1893 in traditional cruciform plan. The organ installed in 1914 is still in use. The structure retains original stained glass windows and interior paneling. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969