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Emmanuel Church is a dynamic and
vital parish in the heart of San Angelo, Texas.
Its Gothic structure and arcaded courtyard make it a landmark in this part of the state, and its liturgical and musical traditions set a standard of excellence throughout the area. Offering educational programs for youth and adults, Emmanuel Church also reaches beyond its walls to human needs in the community,
the Diocese of Northwest Texas, and the world beyond. |
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FROM EMMANUEL’S HISTORY
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The first Episcopal services in San Angelo were held in 1871, when the Rev'd Norman Badger arrived at Fort Concho. He held services wherever he could: in a hospital ward, in a tent, in the mess kitchen, in his own quarters, in the post trader's bar, even across the river in Saint Angela "where a few hovels represent the vice of the neighborhood, and that probably was the first time that the name of the Deity was ever publicly used in reverence at that place." |
Bishop Robert Woodard Barnwell (Missionary Bishop of Western Texas) preached at Fort Concho in 1875. He was a farmer, cavalry man, and he covered his frontier territory by stage and horseback. When Bishop Elliott visited this area, the Methodist parson Andrew Jackson Potter drove him around to locate Episcopalians and invited him to hold services in the Methodist Church, the only Protestant Church building between Fort Concho and El Paso (founded in 1882). History repeated itself when the First Methodist Church once again opened its doors to visiting Episcopalians for the closing Eucharist of the 1974 Diocesan Council held in San Angelo.
Our first church structure: in 1877 Bishop Elliott wrote: "There is at Fort Concho an unfinished structure, a chapel constructed of pickets, that is of poles driven into the ground and the interstices plastered with mud and grass mixed. The roof is a grass thatch, the floor was the natural earth, and yet the pickets are so set in as to give a Gothic effect. This was Chaplain Badger's concluding effort: this mud-daubed, grass-thatched chapel." Chaplain Badger died in 1876. |
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The Rev'd George Dunbar arrived at Fort Concho. In 1879 he wrote: "A post school was formerly established and placed under my charge...the new schoolhouse makes also an admirable chapel."
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Bishop Elliott on a fund raising trip along the east coast, spoke at Sunday School at Emmanuel Church, Baltimore, Md. The Sunday School and other individuals made up the sum of $1,000 to build a church in West Texas--the money not to be spent on land--"And with the distinct understanding that it was not be used for 'High Church'."
Bishop Elliott wrote in 1884: "San Angelo is the most prominent town at present in this field northwest of San Antonio. We have quite a number of church people in and around the town, and they have pledged themselves to the extent of $500.00 for a clergyman. The Church, alas, is represented only by a band of lady communicants known as the Ladies' Aid Society, and one or two male communicants. These ladies, however, have been actively at work and have made several hundred dollars as a Church Fund."
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The cornerstone of the first Emmanuel Church was laid December 10, 1887 in a Masonic ceremony. The wooden frame church was completed in 1888. Oscar Ruffini was the architect and J.D. O'Daniel the contractor. The stained glass windows were put in under the direction of Z. D. Gafford.
Bishop Elliott advised congregations to build not only churches, but rectories, "thus we entrench as we go." "A church bell is a missionary. Its tone should suggest not a locomotive, not a steamboat, not dinner--but God’s call to us. Its sonorous vibration should penetrate into every barroom, disturb the Sabbath-breaker as he polished his cue, and annoy the gambler as he sorts his cards."
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