All Saints' Church
Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Outgrowth of 1882 worship by laymen (mostly sheep-ranching Englishmen). Organized 1883 by The Rt. Rev. A.C. Garrett, pioneer Episcopal Bishop of Dallas, who listed this as "Grace Mission", with eight communicants. With some assistance from New York and other areas, the church was erected 1885 and consecrated as "All Saints" in 1886. Original bell is still in use. The buttresses, stucco finish, and parish house have been added. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
All Saints' began around 1882 as informal worship among West Texas settlers—many of them English sheep ranchers—on the dry plains near Colorado City. Organized in 1883 by Bishop A. C. Garrett, pioneer Episcopal bishop of Dallas, as the eight-communicant "Grace Mission," the congregation built its church in 1885 and consecrated it as All Saints in 1886. Its original bell still rings today.
Why it matters
The church is a tangible trace of the British ranching immigrants who helped settle the West Texas frontier, and one of the region's earliest surviving houses of worship.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · A. C. Garrett
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
E.M. Hardigree Home
Colorado City, TX
Built in 1890 in the young ranching town of Colorado City, this West Texas home later became the birthplace of Martin Dies Jr., the influential congressman who chaired an early House committee investigating un-American activities. It was also home to the colorful ranching couple G. W. and Alice Garrett Plaster, Mitchell County stockraisers for more than half a century. The house links pioneer ranch life to national politics.
Buffalo Trails
Colorado City, TX
These preserved tracks come from an ancient buffalo trail, one of the deep grooves that thundering herds pounded single-file into the West Texas ground as they moved between grazing grounds and watering holes. Migratory routes ran from the Rio Grande to Canada, and buffalo hunters like the Mooar brothers killed thousands here in the 1870s for hides, tongues, and meat. Native peoples had long followed these paths to the herds, and later explorers and railroad engineers built roads and rail lines along the very same routes.
John C. Prude Home
Colorado City, TX
John C. Prude (1856-1924), a leading Mitchell County rancher and banker, arrived before the turn of the century and in 1907 hired builder J. E. "Gene" Pond to raise this spacious brick home. Its wide overhangs and strong horizontal lines echo the Prairie Style then in fashion. The Prude family owned the house until 1977, and it was long a setting for the community's social gatherings.
Majors Home
Colorado City, TX
Built in 1883, this was one of Colorado City's first brick houses, raised by J. P. Hodgson and his wife — a daughter of Texas hero General Tom Green. It later sheltered a succession of West Texas notables, including millionaire rancher Winfield Scott and a promoter of the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Dr. Majors' family has owned it since 1902.