gothic window

 

The gothic style of this abandoned church says more "haunted house" than "house of God."  Early photos of downtown Santa Anna about 1900 show the structure gleaming white with steeple intact.  Santa Anna is not named after the infamous Mexican general but rather for the Penatuhkah Comanche war chief who controlled much of this area of Texas from the 1830’s to 1850 until his death by cholera in 1850.  From cattle to trains to oil, Santa Anna has survived with its small town charm.  Except for the wooden church falling into ruins- with a sole, smudged stained glass pane.

 

photo Santa Anna Historical Development Organization



Santa Anna, Texas

2.19.2016

church on basin

 

This church on Basin Street (not that Basin Street in New Orleans, but the one in Littlefield) is one of the defunct ones.  It's not as dilapidated as some of its neighbors but probably has not been closed as long.  The concrete ramp is interesting.  It probably pre-dates ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) because the slope doesn't meet ADA requirements.  Perhaps the ramp was built to make it easier for pallbearers to carry caskets in for services.  Surely it wasn't for little old ladies in wheelchairs--  making for speedy heavenly departures.

 

Church with no name

Basin and Elm Streets

Littlefield, Texas

4.12.2014



church doors

 

The doors of this abandoned church in Littlefield have not welcomed a congregation in years.  If the doors opened, parishioners would find only rafters fallen from the collapsed roof.  I realized that the right-hand door was a replacement but I pondered, puzzled, for a moment.  The door leaning against the wall looked just liked the left-hand door--how could that have worked?  Then I realized it was placed backwards.  The door mechanism was the give-away!  I wondered what the name for that piece of gear might be, and a diligent search rewarded me with "door opener." Such a mundane word for that equipment.  If you want to buy a "door opener" be sure to specify hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, left-handed, right-handed, non-handed, heavy duty.  The descriptors are more interesting than the name of the device.

 

Church with no name

Hilbun and Basin Streets

Littlefield, Texas

4.11.2014

no services on sunday

 

The small neighborhood on the north side of Littlefield once supported four or five churches.  Today three stand in disrepair.  I can understand a congregation disbanding and abandoning the building, but to leave the pulpit, pews and organ behind is incomprehensible.  I like the way the bars of sunlight and shadow fall through the roof.  And I like the repetition of the pulpit's cross on the chair cushion.

 

Church with no name

Texas and Martin Luther King Avenues

Littlefield Texas

three crosses

 

Although it no longer has a sign and does not appear to be in use, I surmised that at one time this building was a church.  It must have been the three crosses.

 

East Dayton and New Mexico Streets

Slaton, Texas

11.28.2013

 

 

There are more buildings closed and boarded up than are open for business in Hale Center -- a sad sign of the times for small West Texas towns.  What first caught my eye on this former church were the gothic windows --slender, pointed arches on a stucco building.  Then I noticed the small window on the upper level -- too narrow for a second story and no steeple to access.  If eyes are the windows to the soul, then these church windows, boarded and blank, reflect no soul within.

 

900 Main Street

Hale Center, Texas

11.15.2013

hope abandoned

 

I imagine that those parishioners who erected the Sandhill Church of Christ in 1924 had great hopes for their community.  The Depression took away much of that hope.  As the once-hopeful farmers moved away, the house of God became a house of tenants--until they also abandoned the place.

 

 

 

Sandhill, Texas

Floyd County

FM 378 and 784

 

abandon all hope

When the congregation of the New Hope Baptist Church moved to their new building in Shallowater, the former church building was abandoned.  Time and elements work on the structure -- the roof sags, windows are missing and an electric fence keeps people out and cows in.  I first photographed New Hope in 2010.  Soon only the tree will remain.

no hope at new hope

 

The former New Hope Baptist Church

FM 1294 west of Shallowater

Lubbock County, Texas