St. James Episcopal Church
La Grange, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1885 for parish formed in 1855. On lot donated by Shropshire family. In continuous use as only Episcopal church in Fayette County. Original furnishings, handmade by rector and congregation, still in use. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1885 for a parish that had formed thirty years earlier in 1855, St. James is the only Episcopal church in Fayette County and has been in continuous use ever since. Its lot was donated by the Shropshire family, and furnishings handmade by the rector and congregation still serve the sanctuary. The little church is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Why it matters
Its unbroken use and handmade original furnishings preserve a rare, intact record of 19th-century congregational craftsmanship in rural Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Casino Hall
La Grange, TX
Built in 1880 by the Casino Association of La Grange, this handsome Italianate hall was—despite its name—a house for social and public life, not gambling, its yellow-ochre brick trimmed with iron hood moldings and a stepped cornice. It hosted music, theater, and community gatherings, and doubled as a free school; among its 1886 graduates was Annie Webb Blanton, who in 1918 became the first woman elected to Texas statewide office. Over the years it served as city hall, fire headquarters, and senior center before being restored to its original spirit of gemütlichkeit.
La Fayette Masonic Lodge No. 34 A.F. & A.M.
La Grange, TX
La Grange's Masonic lodge organized in 1847, with John Murchison as its first worshipful master, and became a fixture of civic life in Fayette County. The Masons laid the cornerstone of the Fayette County Courthouse in 1891, and though the lodge briefly lost its charter to inactivity in the 1880s, it reformed in 1889 under its original number. The present lodge temple was dedicated in 1939, and its rolls have long included local judges and state leaders.
Rutersville College
Rutersville, TX
Recommended in 1837 by the Methodist missionary Martin Ruter and chartered in 1840, Rutersville College was the first institution of higher learning in Texas. The young Republic of Texas granted it four leagues of land, and the school educated more than 800 students before merging in 1856 into the Texas Monument and Military Institute. It stands at the very beginning of higher education on Texas soil.
Site of First Methodist Annual Conference in Texas
La Grange, TX
In December 1840, in the young Republic of Texas, Bishop Beverly Waugh journeyed from Galveston to the college town of Rutersville—named for the pioneer Methodist missionary Martin Ruter—to organize the first annual conference of the Methodist Church in Texas. On Christmas Day he called the delegates into session at Rutersville College, where they heard reports from nine preachers, admitted four more, and ordained two deacons. From these humble beginnings the Texas Methodist conference grew steadily across the state.