DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of St. Philips Episcopal Church of Palestine. In the 1850s, a woman named Frances Henderson, wife of Governor J.
Pinckney Henderson, helped found St. Philips as a mission. That's where the story begins, quiet and modest, the way so many lasting things do.
A mission, not yet a full parish, tended part-time by the Reverend John Owens. But Reverend Owens petitioned the Diocese of Texas, and in 1860, the Diocese answered. The mission was raised to full parish status.
Now, that milestone had barely been celebrated when the Civil War arrived and scattered the congregation the way wind scatters smoke. No building to call their own during those years. Members gathered where they could.
Homes. The Masonic Lodge. The Methodist sanctuary offered its doors.
You find out who your neighbors are in times like that. Then, in 1863, the Reverend Caleb Dow stepped forward and became the first full-time rector St. Philips ever had.
The congregation held. It endured. And when the war was done and Palestine began to breathe again, the church made its move toward something permanent.
A man named James Firth Brook designed the building. It went up between 1875 and 1876, right there on Oak Street. The congregation grew alongside the town, the way a church and its community are supposed to do, and in 1903 the structure was moved to the site where it stands today.
From a mission in someone's parlor to a building designed, erected, and eventually carried through the streets of Palestine to find its place. That's the story the marker leaves you with.
What the marker says
During the 1850s Mrs. Frances Henderson, wife of Governor J. Pinckney Henderson, helped found St. Philips as a mission. Upon the petition of the Rev. John Owens, who served part-time as the priest here, the Diocese of Texas in 1860 raised the mission to full parish status. During the Civil War, members met in homes, the Masonic Lodge, or the Methodist sanctuary. In 1863 the Rev. Caleb Dow became the first full-time rector. James Firth Brook designed this building, erected in 1875-76 on Oak Street. The congregation grew with the town and in 1903 the structure was moved here. (1979)