St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church is a parish within the Diocese of Northwest Texas. The Missionary District of North Texas (1910-1958) founded the Diocese of Northwest Texas in 1958.(1) Sally McKee Coleman began the Episcopal presence, in Lubbock, with her arrival in 1889. Mrs. Coleman sparked the birth of St. Paul's on the Plains.(2) The building at 1609 Ave. Q, served as the church's home from 1927 to 1941. The ground breaking, for the new and current building at 16th and Ave. X. took place in August of 1941. St. Paul's became a parish of the Missionary District of North Texas on January 16, 1940.(3)
The period of the late 1930's and the
1940's was a pivotal time in the history of St. Paul's on the Plains. During this pivotal
time, the church went from a mission to a self sufficient parish and built a new building.
The Rev. John Winslow, who served from 1938 through 1947, served in the capacity of vicar,
and then as the first rector of St. Paul's. He provided instrumental leadership during a
time of rapid growth and expansion.
The Calling of Rev. John Winslow:
The Rev. John Winslow was Minister in charge of a mission in Dante, Virginia in 1938. While attending a session at the College of Preachers in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1938, the Rev. Everett Jones(4) asked if he would like to go to Texas. Winslow remarked, "It might be fun." Three weeks later, Winslow received a call from Bishop Seaman, the bishop of the Missionary District of North Texas, who asked Winslow to meet with him to discuss the position open in Lubbock. Winslow and Bishop Seaman agreed that Winslow should visit St. Paul's before he accepted the position. Winslow visited and agreed to accept the position of Minister in charge of St. Paul's and the Episcopal Student Pastor to Texas Technological College.(5)
Winslow arrived in Lubbock, Texas on
October 6, 1938. He had traveled by car with Susan Reyburn Winslow, his wife, and their
one year old daughter, Pauline Page Winslow. Lubbock residents granted them a wonderful
welcome. The families of St. Paul's had arranged for the Winslows to have dinner at the
homes of members of St. Paul's for five nights so that they might get settled in their new
community. Bishop Seaman instituted Winslow as Minister-in-Charge of St. Paul's on the
Plains and Episcopal Student Pastor to Texas Technological College on October 9, 1938. The
installation filled the church to capacity.(6)
The Great Move:
The present congregation was out growing the building on Ave. Q. Early in 1939, the Mission Committee of St. Paul's "realized the need for a larger Church and began looking for more land." The first step leading to the accomplishment of this goal was the purchase of the Clark Mulligan property at the head of 16th St. on Ave X. Cosden Oil Co. bought the old rectory. The Mission Committee sold the Church property, at 1609 Ave. Q, the building and pews, shortly thereafter. St. Paul's did not sell the altar.(7)
In September of 1941, Winslow and five others(8) broke ground for the building of the present "Georgian Colonial structure." With construction beginning, a time for the first service had to be chosen. The vestry chose midnight Christmas Eve for the inaugural service, despite the church being Incomplete.
The plaster was wet, the floors were not yet sanded, the furniture had not come, but Morris Allen brought all the trees from Texas Tech (those which had been cut for Christmas decoration) the folding chairs etc. were moved over from Seaman Hall and with a loud shout we went into our new building singing 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful.(9)
Bishop Seaman officially consecrated the
new building at the 35th Annual Convention of the Missionary District of North
Texas.(10)
The Birth of a New Parish:
When Winslow arrived at St. Paul's on the Plains, the mission already had 225 baptized members. St. Paul's had the third largest number of active members within the Missionary District. St. Paul's was already larger than two parishes, St. Mary's in Big Spring and Emmanuel in San Angelo, with 123 and 191, respectively.(11) With these numbers and a growing spirit, Winslow would quickly turn this mission into a self sufficient parish. St. Paul's, by becoming a parish, gained power and prestige, along with a greater responsibility to the community and the District.
On January 16, 1940, St. Paul's on the
Plains became a parish and accepted all the responsibilities that go along with being a
parish. Winslow, other members of the Mission Committee, and the congregation made a
formal request to the Bishop for St. Paul's to become a parish. Several years of steady
growth contributed to St. Paul's achieving Parish status. St. Paul's had "for years
met its Convocation assessment, paid or overpaid its Quota for the Church's Missionary
Program of benevolence and extension and kept up its local obligation of service and of
finance."(12) Becoming a Parish was the first step in
a new beginning for St. Paul's on the Plains.
The Windows:
St. Paul's present building did not always have stained glass windows. The Rev. John Winslow, along with the window committee, conceived and developed the dramatic windows that so gracefully stand there today.(13) Winslow and the committee designed the windows around the theme "of the Holy Spirit as shown in the Bible and in the development of the Church in America, Texas and North Texas."(14)
The realization of the theme was no easy task. St. Paul's chose a company based in New York, the Rambusch Decorating Co., to design and build the windows. The cost for each window was about $750.00 coming to the total of $7,500.00 in 1946.
St. Paul's faced three major problems with
the new windows. The first was how to create windows that matched the Georgian Colonial
Architecture of the building and still add warmth and coloring to the Church yet block out
the glare faced on the South Plains. Rambusch Decorating Company's artisans proved
extremely knowledgeable in solving the technical problems faced by the architecture of the
building. The artisans also provided windows that solved the glare faced on the South
Plains. Combining symbols of the Church and the area proved quite difficult. However, the
use of the grapevine most clearly rectified the problem. Winslow and the committee chose
to weave a grapevine though all of the windows. The grapevine is "in some cases
indigenous to the state", and is a leading symbol of the Church. Therefore, the use
of the grapevine proved to be an excellent symbol of unity between St. Paul's and the
Lubbock area. Establishing "correctness of detail as to the Church and especially as
to the general local scenes" proved to be the third obstacle facing Winslow and the
committee. The Rambusch Decorating Co. being located in New York, and their general lack
of knowledge about the history of North Texas or Texas, caused a magnification of the
problem of local culture. For example, the original Hereford steer, in window #6, had no
horns. After several months of correspondence between St. Paul's and the Rambusch
Decorating Co. they agreed upon final drawings and work commenced. The work took a bit
over a year, completing one or two windows at a time. The windows are still an integral
part of St. Paul's parish.(15)
Texas Technological College and The Canterbury Club:
Bishop Seaman called the Rev. John Winslow
to also be the Student Pastor to Texas Technological College. Texas Technological College
was a fairly young college at the time, only thirteen years old, and had already grown to
have a graduate program. The Missionary District of North Texas, with a grant from the
United Thank Offering of the Women's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church, built Seaman Hall,
named for Bishop E. Cecil Seaman, in 1932. Seaman Hall provided a student center for Texas
Tech. St. Paul's and the Canterbury Club shared clergy, because they were the only
missions in the area. St. Paul's had shared Seaman Hall with Canterbury for many years,
beginning as a parish hall and then as a place of worship during the building of the
current building. The relationship between St. Paul's and Texas Tech was "warm and
supportive on both sides," according to Winslow in his letter to Mrs. Shook.
St. Paul's and the Lubbock Community of Churches:
Warmth and support were generally true of the relationships St. Paul's had with the other local churches. In January and February of 1940, St. Paul's and the Presbyterian and Christian Churches of Lubbock sponsored a Leadership Training School. There were "courses on Primary Education, Young Peoples Work and Adult Work."(16) Feelings of good will were unfortunately not always the case. St. Paul's and Canterbury began the practice of sponsoring dances for the high school age children in Lubbock. One pastor of a local church displayed great disapproval with a church sponsoring dances. Winslow wrote:
He was holding forth on the radio one
Sunday evening and took us severely to task because we were 'leading the youth of the
community to perdition by allowing the dances'. He mentioned the church by name and ended
up by calling me the anti-Christ. He was warned by the radio station that if he ever did
such a thing again he would be cut off the air instantly and permanently.(17)
Despite the unfortunate incident, the general relationship between St. Paul's and other
Lubbock churches was cooperative and amiable. The local ministerial alliance held the
first community observance of Holy Week in April of 1941. "The preachers were from
the various churches of Lubbock and the services were in the charge of the Rev. John A.
Winslow, president of the local ministerial alliance."(18)
The Closing of a Decade of Change:
Winslow brought to a close nearly a decade of growth and development with his resignation in May of 1947. Winslow had played an important role in the growth of the church. When he arrived the number of baptized members was 225 and at the time of his resignation, nine years later, St. Paul's had more than doubled that figure with 545 baptized members.(19)
The years of The Rev. John A. Winslow from 1938 to 1947 were arguably the most prosperous years in the history of St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church. The growth and prosperity experienced during the late 1930's and 1940's led to the present parish. St. Paul's began Winslow's tenure as a dependant mission and ended as a self-supporting parish with a new building. The growth sparked by the period led to the spawning of two new Episcopal parishes, St. Christopher's in 1955 and St. Stephen's in 1958, as well as nearly fifty years of prosperity.
Endnotes
1. Fisher, Sheila, ed al. The Episcopal Church in Northwest Texas. San Angelo, Texas: Anchor Publishing Co., 1991. p. 19-20.
2. Texas Tech University College of Architecture. St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church. Lubbock Texas. Historical Structures Report. p. 3.
3. Fisher, Sheila, ed al. The Episcopal Church in Northwest Texas. San Angelo, Texas: Anchor Publishing Co., 1991. p. 68-69.
4. The Rev. Everett Jones would later become the Bishop of the Diocese of West Texas. He became a prominent leader of the Episcopal Church in all of Texas.
5. Winslow, John. Letter to Margaret Shook. 10 March 1973. Winslow Collection. St. Paul's on the Plains Archive.
6. "The Winslows Arrive." The North Texas Adventure, Oct. 1938: 1+.
8. "Ground-Breaking For Church Is Observed." The Lubbock Avalanche Journal. 25 Aug. 1941. Edgar G. Lewis, represented the men of church, Mrs. O.R. Hand and Mrs. John B. Roundtree represented the women, Grey Lewis represented the children, Dr. Clifford B. Jones, represented Texas Tech.
10. "Lubbock" The North Texas Adventure, Oct. 1941: p. 4.
11. Journal of the Twenty eighth Convocation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Missionary District of North Texas. 1938, Statistical Tables.
12. "Lubbock." The North Texas Adventure, Feb. 1940: 3.
13. The Window committee consisted of five people, Parker Prouty, Grace Allensworth, Clifford Jones, Margaret Shook, and Effie Wilson.
14. Brewer, Mary Louise. "Description of Windows in St. Paul's on the Plains Church." Unpublished paper, St. Paul's History Committee, Lubbock.
16. "Lubbock Leadership" The North Texas Adventure, April, 1940: 5.
18. "Lubbock." The North Texas Adventure, May 1941: 1+.
19. Statistical tables for 1938, Journal, 1939. Statistical tables for 1947, Journal, 1948.