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GALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
January 21, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clay Wade
Director of Events
409-765-3403
Galveston Historical Foundation Announces Annual Tour of Sacred Places, February 19, 2011
Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) will present the 15th annual Tour of Sacred Places from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on February 19, 2011. This year's event features nine historic places of worship plus one of Galveston’s historic cemeteries. The day concludes with a 4 p.m. handbell concert at St. Joseph's, courtesy of the Cathedral Ringers of Dallas, Texas.
The popular tour benefits GHF's ongoing restoration of St. Joseph's Church, the oldest wooden church building in Galveston and the oldest German Catholic church in Texas.
Advance tickets for the tour are $10 and are available online at www.galvestonhistory.org . GHF members may purchase tickets for $9 at the 1861 Custom House, 502 20th Street or by calling (409) 765-7834. Advance tickets are also available at Bishop’s Palace, 1402 Broadway. On the day of the tour, tickets may be purchased for $12 at St. Joseph’s Church, 2202 Avenue K. Group rates are available by calling (409) 765-3409.
A wide range of religious traditions and building styles will be featured, highlighting the island's rich religious heritage while showcasing the depth and range of Galveston's sacred architecture. This year's sacred places on tour include:
St. Joseph’s Church (Tour Headquarters)
2202 Avenue K
By the middle of the 19th century, Galveston Island was home to somewhere between two and three thousand German immigrants, almost half the total population. Bishop John Odin, the first Catholic bishop of Texas, recommended that a church be built for the German-speaking Catholics of the growing city. Built by German immigrants in 1859-60, the church was dedicated in April 1860 to St. Joseph, the patron saint of laborers.
Sacred Heart Church
1308 Broadway
The history of Sacred Heart parish began in 1854 when Michel B. Menard, on behalf of the Galveston City Company, conveyed the square block bounded by 13th Street, Broadway, 14th Street, and Avenue I (Sealy) to Bishop John M. Odin of Galveston for the establishment of an educational institution for young men. In 1884, the Most Reverend Nicholas A. Gallagher, third Bishop of Galveston, committed St. Mary’s University to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The bishop also established Sacred Heart parish to serve the East End of Galveston, placing it in the care of the Jesuits as well.
Central Christian Church
2702 Avenue O ½
Central Christian Church was founded in 1877 and reorganized in 1893. Under the guidance of Reverend J.W. Lowber (who served as the first chancellor of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth), a small brick church was erected at 20th Street and Avenue K. That building served until it was destroyed in the 1900 Storm. In 1926 Reverend W. McQuiddy became pastor of Central Christian. The outstanding work of his ministry was a brick church building at the corner of 27th Street and Avenue O1/2, dedicated in 1929.
Saints Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church
4109 Avenue L
On January 13, 1895, the Slavonic Society of Galveston met to form a congregation. The first elected trustees purchased land for the church on December 16, 1895 and preparations immediately began for the construction of a building. The property transfer was recorded on January 7, 1896, making Saints Constantine and Helen Orthodox Church the oldest Eastern Orthodox Church in Texas and the second-oldest Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States.
Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church
1824 Ball Street
In 1895, members of the island’s Greek community joined with the city’s Serbian, Russian and Syrian citizens to found Saints Constantine and Helen Orthodox Church. In time the Greek community decided to form its own congregation, and in April 1933, a parish board was organized to purchase the former Lutheran church on the corner of 19th Street and Ball Avenue. The Reverend D. Zikakis was the first priest of Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church. The current structure, inspired by Byzantine architecture, was completed in 1964.
Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church
1310 Martin Luther King Blvd. (29th Street)
At the time that the church that would become Reedy Chapel was reorganized as the first African-American Methodist Episcopal Church in Texas, the Methodist Episcopal bishop learned of the need for a place of worship for African-Americans who lived west of 25th Street. This group worshipped together, probably in private homes, for several years before purchasing land and building a church. In 1870 trustees for the congregation bought a lot at 1310 29th Street (now Martin Luther King Boulevard) and executed a promissory note. This debt was paid off by 1877 and the following year a church was built and named Shiloh, meaning “peaceable” after the City of Ephrain in the Bible.
St. John’s Lutheran Church
39th Street and Avenue L
The history of St. John’s Lutheran Church began early in 1915 when the Rev. J. W. Dehnken, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston, responded to an invitation from a number of Lutherans in Galveston to hold worship services. It soon became evident to Rev. Dehnken that there was the nucleus of a congregation. The Mission Board of the Texas District-Lutheran Church was asked to station a missionary in Galveston. In September 1915, E. H. Kreidt of Concordia Seminary arrived and began work. In 1919 the small congregation agreed to buy three and a half lots on the corner of 39th Street and Avenue L as a permanent location for the church. The first church building was dedicated on June 26, 1921.
Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church
902 28th Street
In the years before the Civil War, many of Galveston’s African-American churches were offshoots of established white congregations. During the war, slave groups frequently held their own services and in the Reconstruction period many independent African-American congregations organized, often with the assistance of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Wesley Tabernacle United Methodist Church was founded by the Rev. Peter Cavanaugh in 1869 in a one-room house on Broadway between 38th and 39th Streets. As the church outgrew its first home, its trustees purchased a lot on 28th Street and the little one-room house was moved. The former Presbyterian church building on 14th Street was bought and moved to the corner of Sealy and 28th Street. The current church was built after the 1900 storm, and enlarged and remodeled in 1924.
St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church
1301 Avenue L
In 1896, doctrinal differences between the pastor and congregation of what is now First Union Baptist Church led to 36 members asking for, and receiving, letters of dismissal. Under the pastorship of Rev. Blair, the new congregation met in private homes for approximately two months. Rev. Blair was succeeded by Rev. Terrell, who had been dismissed by First Union. Members were asked to submit names for their new church. The suggestion of St. Luke received the majority vote and the new church was organized. A month later, the legality of this organization was questioned and the church was reorganized. In 1911, the present site was purchased and services were held on the alley corner in a small frame building housing a drug store. In time a stucco sanctuary was erected at 13th Street and Avenue L.
Old Catholic Cemetery
Broadway Boulevard, between 40th and 43rd
1n 1840, the Galveston City Company deeded a four block tract to the City of Galveston for use as a burial site. The Old Catholic Cemetery, one of seven cemeteries within the Broadway Cemetery, is on one of the original four lots. More than 1,500 people are interred in the cemetery. Bishop John M. Odin, Texas’ first Catholic bishop, in February 1845 acquired the deed for the cemetery two years before establishment of the Diocese of Galveston. During 1926 and 1927, the Diocese erected a chapel, improved drainage, and installed cement sidewalks and curbs.
For more information on the 15th Annual Sacred Places tour call (409) 765-3409.
Tour of Sacred Places, 2011 gallery
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