One Man’s Devotion
Faith, Love Built Forney’s Picturesque Little Church
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
Dallas Morning News
Sunday, 21 April 1957
Part 4, Pages 1 & 11
By Walter S. Robinson
FORNEY, Texas – For a half a century people passing through Forney have been asking questions about the picturesque little church just off U.S. Highway 80. And this Easter Sunday it will be the same.
The usual stranger, pushing down the highway, will be awed by its unusual design, its green walls, red roof and yellow crosses. The curious stranger will pull his car out of the stream of traffic, and pointing to the little church will ask the usual question:
“What kind of church is that?”
He’s likely to get the usual answer:
“That’s Walter Adams’ church.”
And if the hour is 11 a.m. he can walk two blocks north, step inside and find Walter Adams.
For Walter Adams organized this church, helped build it, nurtured it through 56 years, and during part of that time was its only sustaining member.
Walter Adams is a small, almost tiny man, who was born at Kemp, Kaufman County, on the last day of 1872. He has led a busy and useful life, and now at the age 83, he has told the story of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
“In 1896, Forney was the blackland prairie hay capital of the world. We shipped hay everywhere. Cotton made money, too. The blackland country was prosperous. I was an Episcopalian, and I thought Forney needed an Episcopal Church.”
On Feb. 19, 1896, Adams sent a letter to Bishop Alexander C. Garrett, first Episcopal bishop of Dallas. It asked the Bishop to form an Episcopal mission in Forney.
The bishop wrote that he was “interested.” So Adams busied himself with forming a congregation. But Forney had few Episcopalians.
“The Baptists, they were predominate,” Adams remembered.
The business of establishing a mission lagged.
Finally, on April 6, 1901, Adams received a stern letter from Bishop Garrett:
“My Dear Mr. Adams: I have not received the deeds to the lots yet. I think it is time that you began to do some real work toward building the church.
“I will give $500 toward the new church upon two conditions:
“First, that it is the last payment necessary to clear the property of debt.
“Second, that the plans and specifications are approved by me before work begins.
“This offer will remain open till the first of July, after which the money will be given elsewhere.
“Awaiting your reply, I am,
Alexander C. Garrett.”
Walter Adams got busy.
“They are gone now,” he said Saturday, “but Charlie H. Wilson and Harry Venner must have equal credit for raising the building fund. And E.C. Lewis donated two lots and one lot was given by the Texas & Pacific Railroad.”
Then Adams found he needed an architect, so he inserted an ad in a New England Episcopal journal. It read:
“WANTED – An Architect, who is an Episcopalian, to design and donate plans for a church to be built in Forney, Texas. Write W.D. Adams.”
The ad brought a reply from Walter H. Slack of New Bedford, Mass. Slack was a noted American architect at the turn of the century. He exchanged letters with Adams, then forwarded two sets of plans.
“I remember,” Adams said, “that I thought the design was rather striking, but we went right ahead.
“One day, Wood Nash, the Kaufman banker, was in my office. He had just married an Episcopalian woman, and he wanted to build a church in Kaufman. So I gave him the other set of plans. The Kaufman churck is almost a duplicate of ours.”
Contract for building Holy Trinity Church was let June 10, 1901.
“We didn’t have half a dozen members,” Adams said. “I was appointed first warden and I’ve been first warden ever since.”
The completed church was consecrated on Ascension Day, May 8, 1902, by Bishop Garrett.
On May 31, 1902, with a congregation grown to 20, the first lay service was held.
“Twenty was the most members we ever had.
“Finally, the membership got down to where Mrs. Frances Venner and I carried on quite a spell, then Mrs. Venner died. For two or more years I was the only member of Holy Trinity.”
But things are looking up for Walter Adams’ church.
For Holy Communion Sunday, he expects “10 or 12.” These will include seven members: Walter A. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Askew, Lyn Askew, Mrs. L.E. Cowart, S.L. Canfield and Alec Leseur. The rector, J. Dean Maurer, will drive over from Kaufman.
Holy Trinity has been renovated for the Easter season.
Mrs. Venner left a bequest for that purpose and Walter Adams paid for other repairs, including a new floor.
Walter Dickson Adams is a wealthy man. He has no family. He has been newspaper publisher, druggist, mayor, banker and big land owner, but he grew angry when asked if he had made provisions to perpetuate Holy Trinity Church.
“That’s a very direct and personal question,” he replied sharply.
Then, as if to answer “yes” to the question, he answered:
“You can say that Holy Trinity will go on – and on.”
“But it’s always been objectionable to me to hear people say, ‘that’s Walter Adams’ Church.’ It’s not my church. It’s God’s church.”
Former location of the Holy Trinity Church, 1919 Sanborn map
Notes: In 1973, the church was physically moved to Heath, Texas, where it still prospers today as the Holy Trinity by the Lake Episcopal Church. It has been renovated and expanded to include an 8,000 educational facility.
Links:
More on the history of the Holy Trinity Church.
Holy Trinity by the Lake Episcopal Church homepage.
