{"nrhp_refnum":"74002056","name":"Old St. Luke's Episcopal Church","other_names":["Old Episcopal Church Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 N. Wall St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belton","county":"Bell County","state":"TX","lat":31.060021216000052,"lon":-97.45931409599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-01-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small hand-cut limestone Gothic-style church building at 401 N. Wall Street in Belton, Bell County, Texas, built in 1874 as St. Luke's Episcopal Church.","why_significant":"It is the oldest church building standing in Belton and was in continuous use until 1969. The nomination presents it as a local landmark that reflects the influence of organized religion on the development of Bell County. It is also noted for its vernacular Gothic detailing.","narrative":"Built in 1874 at 401 N. Wall Street in Belton, this small church of hand-cut Bell County quarry rock was the home of St. Luke's Episcopal congregation. Episcopal families in the area had been organized into a missionary district in 1860, but the Civil War delayed construction. The congregation ran out of money midway through the work, and gifts from Episcopal churches in Galveston, Houston, Waco, Navasota and Bryan helped finish the building. It has load-bearing stone walls, pointed-arch leaded windows, hand-carved pews and a stone bell tower added in 1949 with stone donated from a farmer's fence. The church is the oldest church building standing in Belton and was in continuous use until 1969, when the congregation moved. It has been vacant since then and is in fair condition. Local citizens hoped to restore it as a community meeting center. It was listed for its architecture and its place in the religious life of Bell County.","period_of_significance":"1874","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant since 1969 and in fair condition; local citizens were working to restore it as a non-denominational community meeting center.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.74956-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/9710/40971068/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/74002056.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002056/b0030c5c48-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002056/b0030c5c48-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_st_lukes_episcopal_church_belton_tx_2014.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_st_lukes_episcopal_church_belton_tx_2014.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971068","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St._Luke%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Belton,_Texas)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7085038"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bell-county/old-st-lukes-episcopal-church-74002056/"}