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May 27, 2015

St. Peter's, Brenham Celebrates 50 Years, 150 Ministry

In the summer of 1848 a structure was started for St. Peter's, a fledgling Episcopal congregation in Washington County. Given a $2000 grant by Trinity Church in New York City, the people of the congregation matched the amount in order to begin building. It was to be located in downtown Brenham. That structure was never completed but, in 1852, a wooden one was built made entirely of cedar. It was meant to be a temporary building until the 1848 church was completed.

 

In 1854, the Episcopal congregation purchased a church originally started by the Presbyterians who could not pay for the building. A new brick church was built in 1881 and the cornerstone was laid with Bishop Alexander Gregg officiating. It might have stood for years but was severely damaged in the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The fourth home for St. Peter’s was again a wooden structure on the same site constructed in 1901 and then remodeled in 1919.

 

After a long history in the 1901 church, in 1965 Bishop Milton Richardson came to Brenham to bless and consecrate the latest church building of St. Peter’s. It nearly stood alone near the southern part of the city, which is now a heavily congested intersection at Hwy 290 and Hwy 36.

 

This new church is an enlarged version of the 1901 building. Members of the church literally disassembled the furnishings and then-reassembled them, with some adaptation, in the new building during construction in 1964. Many of the current furnishings such as the altar, reredos, stained-glass windows, a Pilcher pipe organ, pulpit and pews were taken from the previous church building.

 

St. Peter’s will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the current church building and the 30th anniversary of its Parish Hall on Sunday, June 14.   St. Peter’s rector, the Rev. David Ottsen, will officiate at both Sunday services with many of the prior rectors  present. A luncheon follows for the congregation and friends of St. Peter’s.