Emmanuel Episcopal Church
SE corner of N. Church and Walnut Sts., Lockhart, TXThe Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Lockhart, which has been used continuously for Episcopal services since its founding in 1856, is probably the oldest Protestant Church in Texas.
Reverend Joseph Wood Dunn, the founding missionary, visited Lockhart in 1853 and organized an Episcopal parish. However, after the visitation of the Diocesan Bishop the following year, there was intense opposition to the new Episcopal faith by the townspeople and they denied the Episcopalians the only building in town available for public worship. Thus, Reverend Dunn and his parishioners decided to construct their own building. Dunn reported that four men agreed to build the roof and windows if he could provide for the construction of the walls.
In 1854 they laid a foundation of white limestone and with further donations, they were able to complete the new church in 1856.
The walls were constructed of a substantial material of rock and native cement. Hand-hewn cedar timbers were hauled to Lockhart by ox teams from Indianola near Port Lavaca. The building must have been an impressive one for this small frontier town, for when the Bishop visited the new church in 1857 he stated that the structure was "a neat building, quite churchlike, and excellently adapted to one of the great purposes of a Protestant Church, the preaching of the Gospel. It is the easiest church to speak in that I am acquainted with, and, in reference to the science of acoustics is worthy of imitation." (Centennial Brochure, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 1953)
Dunn served as the pastor of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church and the surrounding communities of Seguin, Gonzales, and Bastrop for several years. In 1858 he left Lockhart to help found the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
During the Civil War, it is told that the Union troops quartered in Lockhart and used the church as a stable for their horses. Other sources state that the church was used as a hospital. Whatever its secular use, records indicate the church continued to be used for religious services throughout the war.
The Emmanuel Episcopal Church is not only significant to the spread of the Episcopal faith in Texas but stands as the oldest known Protestant Church in the state. In addition, as one of the earliest structures in Lockhart, the church is an important landmark of local history.
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.