Old St. Luke's Episcopal Church
a.k.a. Old Episcopal Church Building
401 N. Wall St., Belton, TXIn 1860 Bishop Alexander Gregg, the first Bishop of Texas organized the Episcopal families in and around Belton, Texas into a Missionary District. It was not until 1874, after the intervening "War Between the States" that St. Luke's Episcopal Church was built. The building lot, located in Belton on the Southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Wall Streets, was purchased from a church family for the sum of sixty dollars.
The walls of the building were constructed of hand-cut quarry rock from Bell County. Midway through the construction of the building, the congregation ran out of funds. Appeals for help were made, and contributions came in from Episcopal churches in Galveston, Houston, Waco, Navasota, and Bryan. The building was completed and has survived a hundred years, making it the oldest church building standing in Belton.
Inside the church are beautiful stained glass windows. These windows were supplied by New York Churches, who through the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society also provided salaries for the early clergy. The native stone bell tower was added many years later in 1949. The stone for the tower was donated by a farmer from a fence on his nearby farm. The bell had been purchased in 1882. The tower project was instituted in an effort to unify the congregation, which had been without a resident minister for seven years.
The church is a Belton landmark loved by generations of citizens. Until the congregation was forced to move in 1969, the church was in continuous use. The door was always open, and an outside sign beside the front door invited the community to: "Enter - Rest - Think and Pray". Close to several schools, it is known that both teachers and students did drop by, especially during the period of World War II.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.