St. Paul's Episcopal Church

A storm in 1897, which The Record calls the great storm, destroyed the little church at Fourth and Main, and the congregation lost its records and contents. It rebuilt at Sixth and Main. In 1943 members bought property at 1401 West Park Avenue, and ground was broken in September 1945 for a stone church meant to be permanent and attractive. It was finished in early 1947 despite shortages of materials and labor, was debt-free within three months and drew 141 people to its first Easter service. The Record credits Mary Trumble and her daughter Anna with starting the mission.

What the plaque says

St. Paul's Episcopal Church This church was established in 1863 under the leadership of the Rev. Joseph Wood Dunn, an area missionary. The earliest services were conducted in the home of Jerome Swinford. His mother-in-law Mary W. Trumble later donated land at the corner of Fourth and Main for construction of the first church building. The Women's Guild provided funds for the growing mission by selling cakes and serving meals. In 1920, during the pastorate of the Rev. Edgar N. LeBlanc, St. Paul's became a parish. Since the 1860s, the church has been active in the development of Orange. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center — 0.4 mi
  More than 250 acres on Adams Bayou, begun by H. J. Lutcher Stark in 1937, with garden rooms, a cypress-tupelo swamp, a heronry blind and free pontoon tours in season.
• Stark Museum of Art — 0.6 mi
  A white-marble museum in Orange built by the Stark Foundation and opened in 1978, holding Western art, American Indian art, Audubon's Birds of America and Steuben glass, free to enter.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 19 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 21 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.

More markers nearby

• St. Mary's Catholic Church — 0.4 mi
• First Christian Church of Orange — 0.4 mi
• First National Bank of Orange — 0.4 mi
• West End Park — 0.4 mi