Christ Episcopal Church
Matagorda County, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This parish, the oldest Episcopal church in Texas, traces its history to 1838, the year the Rev. Caleb S. Ives was appointed missionary to the Republic of Texas. The first service was held on Christmas Day, and the congregation was formally organized on January 27, 1839. After land was donated by Albert Clinton Horton and Abner Lee Clements, the first building was erected. The first service was held in the new building on Easter Sunday 1841. Ives and his wife, Katherine, established a school, the Matagorda Academy, which was in operation until 1849. After the first church was destroyed in a hurricane in 1854, this building was erected 400 yards west of the original site. Some materials from the 1841 church were salvaged for use in the new structure, including the altar, communion rail, altar cross, and pews. Although this building has been damaged in numerous hurricanes, parts of it date to 1856. Exhibiting influences of the Italianate and Gothic revival styles of architecture, features include round-headed, paired lancet windows. Designated as a recorded Texas historic landmark, the structure received the official Texas Historical Building Medallion in 1962. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Christ Episcopal Church traces its roots to 1838, when the Rev. Caleb S. Ives arrived as a missionary to the Republic of Texas and held his first service on Christmas Day. Formally organized in 1839, the parish built its first church by 1841 and ran the Matagorda Academy alongside it. After an 1854 hurricane destroyed the original, this building rose nearby in 1856, reusing salvaged altar, rail, and pews—surviving storm after storm as the oldest Episcopal congregation in Texas.
Why it matters
As Texas's oldest Episcopal parish, it anchors the religious and educational life of the Republic-era Gulf Coast and its endurance against a century of hurricanes.
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Related people
- · Caleb S. Ives
- · Albert Clinton Horton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Christ Church
Matagorda County, TX
Organized on January 27, 1839, Christ Church was the first Episcopal church in Texas, established when the young Republic was barely three years old. Its building was consecrated in 1844 by the Bishop of Louisiana, and the parish helped anchor the founding of the Diocese of Texas in 1849. A hurricane destroyed the original structure in 1854, and it was rebuilt on the present site; the rector, the Rev. Caleb S. Ives, and his wife also ran one of the area's early schools.
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