Columbus Church of Christ
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built as St. John's Church, by pioneer local Episcopal parish, organized in 1850s. After holding services in courthouse and other structures for years, the parish erected this building, which was consecrated on April 3, 1879. Columbus Church of Christ has been active since 1887, holding services in courthouse or other sites for years, purchasing this property Aug. 1943. This building has been in continuous use for worship since March 6, 1874 Recorded Texas Historic Landmark -1973
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This limestone sanctuary was raised in the 1870s as St. John's Church by an Episcopal parish organized in the 1850s, which had long held services in the courthouse and other borrowed spaces before building a home of its own. The Columbus Church of Christ, active in the town since 1887, met in similar makeshift quarters for years before purchasing the property in 1943. The building has served worshipers continuously ever since.
Why it matters
A house of worship passed from one congregation to another over more than a century speaks to the deep continuity of religious life in small-town Texas.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Saint John's Episcopal Church
Columbus, TX
Episcopal worship reached Columbus as early as 1848 through circuit-riding clergy, and in 1856 the Rev. Hannibal Pratt organized Saint John's Parish. For decades the congregation met wherever it could—a castle-like private home, the courthouse, even the Methodist church—before building on Milam Street in 1874. Sustained by bequests from parish women, it consecrated its present brick sanctuary in 1942.
Harrison-Hastedt House
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This Columbus residence began in 1861 as a modest two-room house. Between 1877 and 1901 owner Jesse Joyner Harrison hired the prominent local builders Andrew Wirtz & Sons to enlarge it into a two-story central-hall home, its wraparound porches trimmed with fine milled woodwork. The Hastedt family acquired it in 1911 and kept it until 1989.
Youens-Hopkins House
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Built in the 1860s of cypress and pine on locally fired brick foundations, this modest cottage stood on the Texas frontier as Columbus was still finding its footing. It passed through a line of notable owners — from county's first banker James H. Simpson to a county clerk — before Dr. Willis G. Youens bought it in 1915, beginning a long tenure by a family of local physicians. More than a century and a half on, it remains in that family's hands.
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