St. John's Episcopal Church
Palacios, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Collegeport was founded in 1908 across the Tres Palacios Bay from Palacios, which had been established in 1902. Three Collegeport families organized an Episcopal congregation. Grace Theodora Smith collected donations from local residents and businesses to raise funds for land and a church building. She collected nearly all the money needed, and Bishop George Herbert Kinsolving gave the last dollars toward building the structure. Grace Smith envisioned a Mission style structure, and the congregation purchased the lumber and concrete blocks to build it, completing it in August 1911, when the Rev. John Sloan of St. Mark's Episcopal Church of Bay City held the first service. In November of that year, Bishop Kinsolving consecrated the church, which he named Grace Church of St. Mary's Mission in honor of Smith and her hard work. Smith wed Edgar G. Jones at the church in 1914. Because of adverse weather conditions, including a freeze, a tidal wave and a hurricane, many local residents eventually left the area and the church. The sanctuary fell into disuse by the early 1920s. In 1922, Bishop Clinton S. Quin established St. John's Episcopal Church in Palacios, which met for a time at the home of Sara Jane Pybus. In 1926, her son, Fred Pybus, and others, including J.E. Lothridge and George A. Harrison, moved the Grace Church building from Collegeport to Palacios. Bishop Quin consecrated it as St. John's Mission on March 20, 1927. Since that time, St. John's congregation has refurbished the sanctuary and added a parish hall. Membership has remained steady, and the congregation continues to gather for worship and education, a testament to the strong foundation laid by early area Episcopal residents. (2004)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The coastal community of Collegeport sprang up in 1908 across Tres Palacios Bay, and three Episcopal families soon set out to build a church. Grace Theodora Smith raised nearly all the money herself, and the Mission-style sanctuary she envisioned was consecrated in 1911 in her honor. When freezes, a tidal wave, and a hurricane emptied the area, the little church found a second life: in 1926 it was moved across the bay to Palacios, where it was reconsecrated as St. John's and serves a congregation still.
Why it matters
The building's rescue and relocation tell a very Gulf Coast story of communities battered by weather yet unwilling to let their institutions die, carrying faith and memory to firmer ground.
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Related people
- · Grace Theodora Smith
- · Bishop George Herbert Kinsolving
- · Bishop Clinton S. Quin
- · Fred Pybus
Themes & tags
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