Austin Avenue Methodist Church
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Designed by R.H. Hunt, this edifice is substantial interpretation of Gothic architecture. It was built in 1925 during the ministry of the Rev. Cullom H. Booth. The two-story-equivalent brick structure, which rests on a raised basement, features a prominent bell tower. The original tracery detail in the tower was removed by the 1940s. The original art glass windows and tracery detail in the sanctuary were replaced after a 1954 fire caused extensive damage.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Designed by prolific Southern architect R.H. Hunt and completed in 1925, this Waco church is a substantial essay in Gothic style, its brick mass rising from a raised basement beneath a prominent bell tower. Time and misfortune reshaped it: the tower's original tracery was gone by the 1940s, and a 1954 fire forced the replacement of the sanctuary's art glass. What remains is a landmark that has weathered the ordinary accidents of a long congregational life.
Why it matters
Grand early-20th-century church architecture anchored the civic identity of growing Texas cities, and buildings like this one record both the ambition of their builders and the losses of the decades since.
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Related people
- ¡ Cullom H. Booth
- ¡ R.H. Hunt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Austin Avenue United Methodist Church
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As the 19th century closed, Waco's Fifth Street Methodist congregation had simply grown too large, so in 1900 the conference approved a new church for the city. Chartered the next year with 81 members, Austin Avenue Methodist built its first sanctuary in 1902 and grew alongside its neighborhood, eventually outgrowing that home and building anew a block away. Through the decades it sustained a steady tradition of community outreach.
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