DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Picture yourself rolling through Bexar County, and listen close, because this one goes back to 1883. That was the year St.
Paul's Episcopal Church was formed — formed with a clear purpose, right from the start: to serve the Fort Sam Houston community. And folks, they didn't waste a single Sunday. The parish made plans for a proper edifice at once.
No hemming, no hawing. They had a vision. Now here's where the story gets some real Texas-sized generosity behind it.
The Right Reverend R.W.B. Elliott — first Bishop of the Missionary District of West Texas, mind you — donated the very site the church would stand on. First bishop of that whole district, and he gave the ground.
But the building still needed to rise up off it, and that's where a woman from a long way off enters the picture. Miss Mary Coles, all the way from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, added her own funds to the local subscriptions already gathered. And she didn't stop there — she hired the architect herself.
The design that architect produced was Gothic style. The walls that went up were built of native stone, pulled right from the land around it. And when the last stone was set and the work was done, Bishop Elliott — the same man who'd given the ground beneath it — returned to consecrate what had grown from his gift.
That consecration happened on October 25, 1885. Two years from a dream to a done thing. St.
Paul's has been standing on that donated ground, in that Gothic stone, ever since.
What the marker says
Formed in 1883 to serve the Fort Sam Houston community, St. Paul's parish at once made plans for this edifice. The Rt. Rev. R.W. B. Elliott, first Bishop of the Missionary district of west Texas, donated the site. Miss Mary Coles of Philadelphia, PA., added funds to local subscriptions and hired the architect. The Gothic style church, built of native stone, was consecrated by Bishop Elliott on October 25, 1885.