Our first service was held in an abandoned bowling alley Sunday, October 6, 1907. Initially formed as a mission church from the downtown parish, St. Mark's, Christ Church became an independent parish in 1911. Over our nearly 100 years we have been served by only six extraordinary rectors, including the amazing Sam Capers (1930-1967), and such notable leaders of the Episcopal Church as Ben Benitez, John MacNaughton and Ted Schroder.

Our current rector, Chuck Collins, joined us in ministry in August 2001. Chuck served parishes in El Paso Texas, Vero Beach Florida, Orlando Florida and Albuquerque New Mexico before coming to us. Click here for more info on Chuck.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

We are looking forward to and planning for our "centennial celebration" the weekend of October 6, 2007. We are excited about our parish and about what God is doing among us, and we invite you to join in the fun. Watch for more information to come!

By January, 1914, the walls were finished (above), the window frames installed and the roof beams were being erected. A month later (below), the roof was finished and the tower was rising to its ultimate height. A sign noting Ayres as the architect is partially visible at the side entrance.

Our story is told in a book pub-lished for our 75th anniversary: Christ Episcopal Church: the First Seventy-Five Years, by Lewis F. Fisher (available in our bookstore).

Rev. Samuel Orr Capers

The entrance to Christ Church in 1949 (left) was virtually unchanged from when the church was built. Within three decades, however, the entrance had been transformed, as the original opalescent lavendar window had been replaced by the Great Commission Window which in turn was replaced by the Charles Umlauf bronze sculpture. New letters had been sandblasted above the doors—themselves replaced—and new native plantings provided shade.

Five members of the Capers family stroll along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during a break at the Episcopal General Convention there in 1934. They are, from left, Rev. William T. Capers Jr., rector of St. Stephen's Church, Terre Haute, Indiana; his brother, Rev. Samuel Orr Capers, rector of Christ Church, San Antonio; their uncle, Rev. Dr. Walter Capers, rector of St. Andrew's Church, Jackson, Mississippi; their father, Rt. Rev. William T. Capers, Bishop of the Diocese of West Texas; and their cousin, Rev. Capers Satterlee, student paster at Clemson College, Clemson, South Carolina.

Actors in a Sunday School play in the late 1930's are, from left, Jay Tapp, Walter Buzzini Jr., Anne Ayres (Clarke) and Pinkey Whitney Jr.