Church of the Holy Cross, Episcopal

Church of the Holy Cross, Episcopal. . Origins of the Episcopal Denomination in the area date to an 1839 visit by Bishop Leonidas Polk of Louisiana, and his return in 1841 to perform the first baptism in northeast Texas at Pine Creek, a few miles north of Paris. The Diocese of Texas appointed Rev. Francis R. Starr to be missionary to Paris and nearby areas in 1870. He preached his first service in Paris on Feb. 7, 1870, and the Church of the Holy Cross was received into the diocese on June 9, 1870. The first vestry was composed of I.W. Wells, J.E. Roberts, J.K.P. Campbell, D.J. Ford, and J.W. Moore. Rev. Starr was rector for the first seven years of the church., The original facilities were a frame chapel and log cabin rectory where the Lamar County Courthouse now stands. After several moves between 1884 and 1887, the congregation settled on South Main Street, but that church was destroyed in the Paris fire of 1916. It is believed that the architectural plans for the present Gothic Renaissance style church were furnished by an English-born parishioner, Richard H. Blyth, and that it was modeled after an identical church in the British Midlands. The church and rectory were completed in 1917-18, the Bettes Memorial Parish Hall was built in 1920, and the Ruth McLaughlin Riddle Hall was added in 1984., The 26th Convention of the Diocese of Dallas met in Jan. 1921 at Holy Cross, the second-oldest parish in the diocese. Rev. James W. O'Connell, known later simply as "Rector", served here from 1944 to 1974, building membership, organizing the youth of the church and becoming part of community life. Through organizations and outreach, Holy Cross has upheld the importance of building and nurturing relationships with fellow parishioners and with the community.