Christ Church Cathedral

The second Episcopal parish in the Republic of Texas. Led by a missionary of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Rev. R.M. Chapman, and by an early Houstonian, Col. William Fairfax Gray, thirty-nine men came together on March 16, 1839, to organize an Episcopal Church, and on Easter Monday, April 1, 1839, Christ Church was officially established. Some of the first service were held in the Capitol of the Republic, then at the corner of Main Street and Texas Avenue. In 1844 a wooden building on this site served as a church. In 1846 it was supplanted by a brick structure. In 1859 a second brick church was begun, then enlarged in 1876. Present building was erected in 1893, its altar area rebuilt after a fire in 1938. The original cornerstone may be seen inside the church. Founded under the Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, missionary bishop, and often visited by his successor, the Rt. Rev. George Washington Freeman, the parish was guided and nurtured by the Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg, first bishop of the Diocese of Texas, and by the Rt. Rev. George Herbert Kinsolving, second bishop. It became in 1949 the Cathedral of the Diocese under the Rt. Rev. Clinton s. Quin, third bishop.

Christ Church Cathedral is a historical marker in Houston, Harris County, dedicated in 1972. It is one of 406 historical markers documented in Harris County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 781 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.7594, -95.3613 near Houston. The nearest cataloged historic site is Houston Post-Dispatch Building (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Site of the Organization of Lady Washington Chapter, NSDAR, Paul Building, and Kress Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5201010631. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.