St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church

Established at the Diocesan Convention of 1867, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church became the second church group in Wharton County and the first and only Episcopal church to permanently take root there. Worship in Wharton began with the first official sermon on May 5, 1867, delivered by Rt. Reverend Alexander Gregg, and the church was recognized as a mission in 1868. Its first church building was erected in 1898 on Milam Street and rebuilt in 1902. Beginning in May 1926, Raymond Dickson offered the old Dickson home for use as a rectory, and when the house was dismantled, the sale of the lumber helped fund a new rectory. A new church building was completed in 1951, and the old building on Milam was sold. For more than forty years, from 1962 to 2003, the parish sponsored St. Thomas’ Day School, later St. Thomas’ Episcopal School, which produced many honor graduates of Wharton High School. Because many members worked for the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, services were occasionally conducted in Newgulf. The church also supported a thrift shop, Angel Tree Ministry, Wharton County Women’s Crisis Center, Vacation Bible School, and other community outreach, shaping Wharton and the surrounding area through service and support for well over a century.

Wharton, Texas · United States