ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BRYAN, TEXAS
Download the pdf brochure about our stained glass windows: history and windows brochure
ABOUT ST. ANDREW’S
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church was organized as a mission of the diocese of Texas in Millican in 1864. When the extension of the railroad from Houston to Bryan and a yellow fever epidemic depleted the population of Millican the remaining church members moved on to Bryan, where St. Andrew’s parish was organized on December 10, 1867. The first church building was located at the corner of 25th Street and Parker (then called Red Top), and services there began in 1868.
Plans for the present building at the corner of 26th and Parker were underway by the year 1907. The cornerstone was laid on May 30, 1912, and the congregation moved in and held the first service in the new building on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1914. The building was dedicated, with Bishop George Kinsolving officiating, on May 3, 1914.
The church cost $18,000 and is built on the highest point in downtown Bryan. St. Andrew’s is the oldest church building in Bryan to be in continuous use. The building is constructed of brick and stone in the Neo-Gothic style. The most distinctive features are its memorial stained glass windows and its interior woodwork.
When the building was dedicated in 1914, a reporter for the Bryan Eagle called the interior a “jewel box,” and this nickname has stuck for nearly a century. The beautiful windows are certainly the crown jewels in that jewel box. The rumor persisted for years that the St. Andrew’s windows had been created by craftsmen at Tiffany’s, but recent research has revealed that they were produced by the artisans of Jacoby Art Glass Company of St. Louis, Missouri, in the distinctive American neo-classical style, distinguished by realistic figures, background landscapes, and architectural details.
