Saint John's Episcopal Church
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The earliest Episcopal worship service known to have been held in Columbus occurred in 1848. At that time services were held infrequently, conducted by clergy traveling through the area. The Rev. Hannibal Pratt came to Columbus in 1855, and Saint John's Parish was officially organized and admitted to the Diocese of Texas on April 14, 1856. Worship services for Saint John's parishioners were held in a variety of locations, including the large castle-like home of Robert Robson, the County Courthouse, and the Methodist church. A lot on Milam Street was purchased in 1871 and a church building was constructed by 1874. It was later sold to the Church of Christ. Property at this site was purchased in 1906 with proceeds from the will of Mrs. Fannie Darden and money raised by the Ladies Guild. A house located here was used first as a rectory and later as a parish house. A new brick church, built with funds willed to the congregation by Mrs. Nannie Thatcher Andrus, was consecrated in 1942 by Bishop Clinton S. Quin. Charter members of Saint John's included citizens of the Republic of Texas, veterans of the Texas Revolution, local civic leaders, and state officials.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
The parish's charter rolls, filled with citizens and veterans of the Republic of Texas, tie the congregation to the founding generation of Anglo Texas.
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Related people
- · Hannibal Pratt
- · Fannie Darden
- · Nannie Thatcher Andrus
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Harrison-Hastedt House
Columbus, TX
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.
Columbus Church of Christ
Columbus, TX
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.
William Menefee
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Born in Tennessee around 1796 and a veteran of the War of 1812, William L. Menefee brought his large family to Texas in 1830 and threw himself into the colony's turbulent politics. He served in the conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the provisional government, and on March 2, 1836, he was among the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Under the Republic he became Colorado County's first judge, sat in Congress, and helped choose the site of the state capital before decades more of public service.
District Court Tree
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