The 1914 church that anchors the Zion Hill Historic District in Nacogdoches is getting...
Originally set to be complete this spring, work on Zion Hill Church is expected to wrap up this fall.Nacogdoches — The 1914 church that anchors the Zion Hill Historic District is getting modern amenities as it moves toward a goal of reopening to the public.
“Plumbing, electrical, ADA compliance — those things were never designed in this building, and we’re having to figure out a way to fit them in organically to preserve the history,” said Jessica Sowell, the assistant community services director. Originally planned to be complete by mid-2022, the $1.6 million renovation project at Zion Hill Church has been affected by two years of supply chain breakdowns and other issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are looking at fall of this year, but we don’t have an exact date,” Sowell said. “Once we do, I’ll be telling everybody about it.” Many Nacogdoches natives who grew up admiring the Gothic revival style building were thrilled at the news that a decades-long effort to revitalize and reopen it to the public will soon come to fruition.S.A. landscape architect receives national medal for helping preserve African American landmarks “As a kid, many times I went to that church, unfortunately more often when it was in disrepair,” said District Judge Jeff Davis, who grew up in Nacogdoches. “It’s been a 30-year project, getting this done.” Built in 1914 by architect Diedrich Rulfs, the building likely wouldn’t be standing today, Sowell said, if the Nacogdoches County Historical Society had not intervened in the 1990s, raising money and securing grants for major repairs after the church sat vacant and deteriorating for a decade. The historical society deeded the building to the city in 2010. Since then, it has been a work in progress as more grants and donations were raised through the years to restore and repurpose it into a museum and events venue. “Our plan is to focus on the African American history of that region, of the church and the neighborhood around it,” Sowell said. The Zion Hill Historic District grew and developed during the 1880s and 1890s as a Black neighborhood on what was then the northeast edge of Nacogdoches. Residents typically worked in downtown businesses or for affluent white families living on nearby Mound Street.“Those aren’t things you normally see preserved,” Sowell said. “The Victorian homes, any place that Sam Houston set foot in, those get preserved, but not everyday homes.” Founded in 1878 by the Rev. Lawson Reed, the Zion Hill congregation predates the building on Bois d’Arc Street, its fourth location. Reed held the first services under a brush arbor, moving to a wood frame building on Park Street and then to a building on Logansport Street.The church purchased land on Bois d’Arc Street from Nacogdoches businessman John Schmidt, a German immigrant who co-owned Mayer & Schmidt. Schmidt requested no down payment for the land and financed construction of the new building under Rulfs, his longtime friend and a fellow German immigrant.For nearly 75 years, it was a social and religious center of activity for residents of the Zion Hill neighborhood.
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