The Lampasas Heritage Foundation is progressing with efforts to return a Fourth Street church to its former glory.
In August, the nonprofit organization commenced work on restoring the church formerly known as St. Christopher’s Catholic Church and later St. Paul’s AME Church. What seemed like a dream project for Lampasas Heritage Foundation founder Debbie Reynolds is now materializing.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” Reynolds said. “When I saw the wall and the altar wall and the steel framing going in, I was like, OK, this is a reality.”
Reynolds first noticed the abandoned church while spending time in Lampasas County during trips to her ranch in Bend. It was hard not to notice the old Spanish-style building that resembles a “baby Alamo” on her trips to Walmart.
“I just thought it was a really pretty church, and I also love old buildings and restoration,” Reynolds said. “So, when I heard it was going to be demolished, that was just unacceptable to me because it is such an iconic style.”
In June 2019, a heavy windstorm rendered severe damage to the church, causing the roof to collapse. Damage also was sustained to the altar and west wall. After the destruction, Reynolds heard rumblings the city was planning to demolish the aging, rundown structure.
“We saw the city was going to bulldoze it, so we got on the phone and contacted the various people until we got a stop to that plan in the hopes we would be able to restore it,” Reynolds said. “That is when I went in and created the Lampasas Heritage Foundation in order to raise the funds to save the church.”
Reynolds noted it was challenging to get the restoration efforts off the ground. From when she received city approval for the project through the COVID-19 pandemic, it took years to get the work in motion.
In 2023, the Dispatch Record reported that Lampasas Cornerstone Conservancy had taken on the project to restore the Fourth Street church. However, those plans never came to fruition, and the nonprofit organization never officially was formed, said Reynolds who was involved with the group.
The restoration effort was shifted back under the umbrella of the Lampasas Heritage Foundation, with the permission of Garry Milligan to transfer the property from the conservancy to the foundation.
Milligan’s mother, Jewel Milligan, passed the property to Garry after her death in 2013. Jewel Milligan was part of a group of residents who formed a plan to buy the old Catholic church and develop it into St. Paul’s AME Church in the early 1960s.
“He [Garry] always would say her [Jewel’s] dying words to him were, ‘Take care of my church,’ ” Reynolds said.
In August, stone mason Juan Vidal and his crew started rebuilding the walls of the church and completed the west wall in 13 days. A couple of months later in October, Lampasas resident Mike Irvin donated steel frames and labor to provide structural stability for the building.
Reynolds is pleased to see how the work is moving steadily.
“We have all the steel framing put in,” she said. “We have rebuilt the altar wall, the west wall and are currently rebuilding the bell tower. We couldn’t rebuild it just as they had it, which meant freestanding. We are having to come and do some support work, so we will have some steel framing to help it.”
The Lampasas Heritage Foundation is in stage one of the project, which has included input by structural engineer Brad Shaw and architect Jennifer Walker. Reynolds said the foundation hopes to complete bell tower repairs, have a new roof placed and windows installed by early February. She plans to begin stage two in April. That work will include the installation of electrical wiring, plumbing, HVAC and restoration of some original church furnishings.
“The original door that was on the church, somewhere in its life they came in and covered it with some type of particle plywood,” Reynolds said. “When you peel that back, you can still see the original door, so we will have that restored.”
Although it took six years for the project to get the green light, Reynolds believes the efforts of Forward Lampasas, another local nonprofit organization that launched in 2024, has helped spread her message and led to change in the community. Forward Lampasas is working to develop a hike-and-bike trail along Sulphur Creek near the Fourth Street church.
Reynolds previously worked with Andy Fish to help restore the Keystone Hotel which brought plenty of attention on its own accord, and she said Forward Lampasas helped the pair meet new friends who were willing to assist with this project.
“All a sudden it put us in front of people we hadn’t been in front of before, even with the visibility of the Keystone,” Reynolds said. “We met people we had never interacted with a whole lot before, and they are just a great bunch of people.”
As restoration efforts forge on, the Lampasas Heritage Foundation is continuing its fundraising. The nonprofit held two concerts with singersongwriter Terry McBride and renowned violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn in November that raised approximately $27,000. Others interested in donating to the foundation for its work can email Lhf1856@gmail.com.
Reynolds said she couldn’t be happier with the way the local community has embraced the project and how much work has been done in just a few months.
“It is night and day,” Reynolds said. “It is honestly amazing. There was a point I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
