Austin Churches

Three churches went up within two years of each other, and each tells on the town that built it. St. Augustine's Catholic, in 1866, charged a dollar a head at its first midnight Mass to hold the crowd down; the Methodist church the same year was financed by pooling donated mining shares into a "Methodist Mining Company" and selling it back east; St. George's Episcopal, in 1878, shipped its organ around Cape Horn. A girl named Emma Wixom sang in the Methodist Sunday school here and came back, as the soprano Emma Nevada, to give a benefit concert.

What the plaque says

St. George's Episcopal Church to the east was consecrated in 1878. The Reverend Blackiston swept the congregation with his enthusiasm and eloquence at Easter Service in 1877 to bring forth pledges including the building, retaining wall, pipe organ, bell and a 20-dollar gold piece from every employee of a local mine. The organ was shipped around the Horn and by wagon from San Francisco. St. Augustine's Catholic Church to the west was built in 1866 of native brick and stone. Father Monteverde, the first pastor, conducted the first mass at midnight, Christmas Eve, 1866. Admission of $1 per person was charged to limit the number of people attending. The Methodist Church to the north was built in 1866. It was financed by donated stocks which were pooled by the canny pastor into the Methodist Mining Company and sold in the east. Lectures and entertainment were part of the church scene for benefit purposes. Emma Wixom attended Sunday school here. Later, as world-famous Emma Nevada, she brought her troupe to Austin and gave a benefit concert in this church. State Historical Marker No. 67 Nevada State Park System Austin Chamber of Commerce Restored 1996, Courtesy of Western Nevada Supply Co. NSP 10-30-69

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Austin — steps away
  A silver boomtown that hit ten thousand and fell to under two hundred — the living ghost town at the high middle of US-50
• Hickison Petroglyphs — 23 mi
  Western Shoshone rock art cut into soft white tuff at a 6,500-foot summit — the easiest rock art to meet on the loneliest road

More markers nearby

• International Hotel — steps away
• Reuel Colt Gridley “Citizen Extraordinaire” — 0.4 mi
• Stokes Castle — 0.5 mi
• Austin — 0.7 mi