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    St. Andrew's in the Heights (St. Andrew's Episcopal Church)


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    St. Andrew's in the Heights (St. Andrew's Episcopal Church) has a long history in the Houston Heights. Although St. Andrew's was not the first Episcopal Church in the Heights, it was the first to have a church building. Episcopalians began worshiping in the Heights in 1894. Between the 1894 and 1904, divine worship was conducted by Reverend Benjamin Andrew Rogers of Austin. These services were held in the Cooley School building, and the congregation was known as St. Paul's Mission.

    On a Sunday afternoon in February 1911, St. Andrew's was organized as a congregation of the Episcopal Church in the parlor of Mrs. Henry J. Brown's home at 212 West 19th Street. Reverend Benjamin Andrew Rogers was honored in the choice of his middle name for the new congregation. When the worshippers grew too numerous to gather in the Brown's home, Mr. Fred Dexter offered the use of his hall.

    The first church building on Allston Street was erected soon after, and it served the congregation well until 1920, when Mr. O. M. Carter, owner of the Houston Heights Land Company, gave to St. Andrew's the property at the corner of 19th and Yale Street, the location of Compass Bank today.

    Between October 1920 and March 1921, services were held in the Parish House, which faced 19th Street. The first services in the new building were conducted on Palm Sunday, March 20, 1921.

    At the 1921 council held in May at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Andrew's Mission became a Parish. The first official rector of St. Andrew's was Reverend Edward Farren Hayward. Many happy memories were made during this time, and St. Andrew's parish continued to grow and flourish during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

    By the mid-1940s, it was clear that St. Andrew's needed an even bigger space. Land at the corner of 19th Street and Heights Boulevard was obtained, and ground was broken in 1947.

    Haskin V. Little became Rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in 1952.

    In 1958 another happy occasion took place. A Sunday school wing was added to the back of the church building to serve the growing population of Sunday school attendees.

    As in most large metropolitan areas, a large part of the population base moved to the suburbs during the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. But St. Andrew's was in the heart of Houston, and its loyal parishioners drove from all points to stay in the St. Andrew's family.

    Reverend John E. Binford became St. Andrew's rector in 1978. For most of his 22-year tenure as rector (he retired on Easter Sunday 1999), St. Andrew's enjoyed the resurgence of popularity to the Heights as many people began restoring old homes and moving their young families closer to downtown. The church building on Heights Boulevard, however, remained essentially unchanged until 1993, when St. Andrew's launched a massive renovation program entitled “Achieving New Heights.”

    Achieving New Heights was a great success. Many changes were made to the structure of the church: an elevator was installed, the parish hall and kitchen were enlarged and remodeled, new offices were built, Sunday school rooms were renovated and enlarged, and a new, indoor chapel was dedicated whose centerpiece is a dramatic, back-lit, stained-glass window from the former Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.


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