1. Christ Church Cathedral
from Fannin
23 January 1905: 1. Hugh Waddell (1845 – 1915) built Waddell Furniture Store (1102-1112 Prairie) in 1895 on the northwest corner of the block just behind Christ Church, starting as the three story structure seen here. See another postcard in this series, Waddell’s, for a view from the other side of the building after an additional three floors were added a few years after this postcard; 2. The Christ Church building seen here was built in 1893, but the history of the congregation reaches back into the origins of Houston
[See Houston Chronicle article on Christ Church.]; 3. The Rectory was the home of the episcopal rector, in the year 1905, Peter Gray Sears. The residence was demolished many years ago and the rector now lives in another part of town. |
16 May 2019: 1. The dome of The Harris County Courthouse (301 Fannin) built in 1910 is here visible at far left, although in the paired image of 1905, the dome is blocked by Waddell’s Furniture Store; 2. The Harris County Criminal Justice Center (1201 Franklin between San Jacinto and Caroline streets), the largest county courthouse in the nation, was built in 1999 with 21 floors above ground; 3. The 10-story Sam Houston Hotel (1117 Prairie at San Jacinto) was built in 1924; 4. Christ Church Cathedral (1117 Texas Avenue at Fannin), was built in 1893, the 4th church on the site, after structures built in 1847, 1861, and 1876; 5. Now called the Anderson Clayton Building (1310 Prairie Avenue at Caroline St.) and used as a courthouse annex, the Cotton Exchange building was built in 1924 with 16 floors to replace the outdated 1885 four-story Cotton Exchange Building (202 Travis at Franklin).
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Postmarked: 23 January 1905; Houston, Tex.
Stamp: 1c Blue Green Ben Franklin #300 To: Dr. Percy T. Fenn Texarkana, Arkansas Message: [Front] Marked on building: “Rectory” The Reverend Doctor Percy Thomas Fenn to whom this postcard was directed was the rector at St. James Church in Texarkana, AR 1898 - 1905. He was born 29 June 1865 in London, England, the third of nine (or more) children of Edward and Elizabeth Fenn of Croyden Parish, Kent. Percy was educated in parochial schools of St. Peter’s Church and All Saints Collegiate School in Kensington, a suburb of London. He immigrated to this country in 1885 at age 20, and continued his education at Hobart College in Geneva, NY, followed by a course of study under the direction of Rev. Dr. Thomas Burgess of Millbrook, NY. In 1889 he was ordained Deacon of the Episcopal Church by Bishop Henry C. Potter in New York City, followed by the priesthood in 1891. He achieved his Doctorate of Divinity in Annapolis, MD in 1894. Other degrees followed: Doctor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois College at Fulton, IL in 1894; Doctor of Divinity at Ohio University at Athens, OH in 1900.
Dr. Fenn served as clergyman in Dutchess County, NY (1887-1889); St. Andrews Church in Brewsters, NY (1889-1892); rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boonton, NJ (1892-1895); St. John’s Episcopal Church at Essex, CT (1895-1898); St. James Episcopal Church at Texarkana, TX (1898-1905); St. John’s Episcopal Church at Wichita, KS (1905-1920); in Syracuse, NY (1925). Percy married in 1891 to Sarah Christian Mills, whose father was rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers, NY. They had two children, Percy Thomas Fenn, Jr. (1892) and William Hammond Mills Fenn (1894). Percy Thomas Fenn, Sr. died in 1942 and is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Newton Lower Falls. Middlesex County, MA; Sarah Mills Fenn died in 1956 and is buried beside her husband. Percy Thomas Fenn was a name born by four generations: Percy Thomas Fenn, Sr. (1865-1942), Percy Thomas Fenn, Jr. (1892-1964), a Reverend like his father, Percy Thomas Fenn, III (1931-2004), a public radio announcer, and Percy Thomas Fenn, IV. The author of the postcard does not sign his (or her) name, so their identity must remain hypothetical. However, noting “Rectory” as if marking it with an "X" does suggest a more than a passer-by’s connection to the church, instead, the message, “I’ve been here,” or “I live here,” or “Here is where my office is.” seems to be implied. The sitting rector is perhaps the one person who could remain anonymous and still be confident their communication would be unambiguously attributed to them. It reasonable to hypothesize that the rector of Christ Church in 1905, Reverend Peter Gray Sears, may be the sender. Posting a postcard image of a workplace from one colleague to another is one of the few communications that might not warrant a personal note of any kind, especially if the recipient was already aware through professional communications that his friend and colleague had relocated to a new rectory. |
Though he newly found himself a citizen of the Bayou City, Reverend Peter Gray Sears was a descendant from an important founding family. His grandfather was William Fairfax Gray (1787-1841), one of the founders of Christ Church in 1839, the oldest extant congregation in the city. Gray was born in Fairfax County, VA and fought in the War of 1812, coming to Houston in 1837, where he would serve the Republic of Texas House of Representatives as clerk, the Texas Senate as secretary, and the Texas Supreme Court as clerk. He died in 1841 was buried three times, first in Founders Cemetery, then reinterred into Episcopal Cemetery, and finally reinterred in Glenwood Cemetery when it was founded in 1872 as the city’s most desirable burying place.
Claudius Wistar Sears, a West Point graduate from 1841 who had served in the Seminole Wars in Florida, married William Fairfax Gray’s daughter Alice Gray (1835-1893) and as a young man pursued a military career. Later brought into service in the Civil War, he was promoted to Brigadier General and served in the Vicksburg campaign. After the Civil War he taught mathematics and civil engineering at “Ole Miss” in Oxford, MS, one of the South’s most venerable educational institutions. Alice’s brother, the previously mentioned Peter W. Gray, had moved to Texas very early on, and was attorney to the Allen Brothers who founded Houston. In the early years of the republic he served in the Texas House of Representatives, the Texas Senate, and was a State Court Judge. From the 1850’s he represented William Marsh Rice, and many of Houston's most active business men. In the Civil War, he was named as Texas’ representative to the Confederate Congress, and after the war invited a cousin, Confederate Colonel Walter Browne Botts, to form a law firm, Gray and Botts. James Addison Baker joined the firm in 1872 and it became Gray, Botts and Baker. Gray served as Justice of the Texas Supreme Court before his death in 1874. A grateful city named Gray Street in Houston for Peter W. Gray. The law firm he started continued to represent William Marsh Rice, and was instrumental is seeing that justice was done after his death by poisoning at the hand of his New York lawyer and valet. Though tied up in court for a decade, the estate endowments funded the opening of Rice Institute in 1912. Baker Botts LLC is now an international law firm of 750 lawyers with headquarters in the Shell Building in Houston. Peter Gray Sears was born in Oxford, MS on 11 October 1866, the fourth child of a family of 5 boys and one girl. He was educated at “Old Miss,” graduating in 1885 from The University of Mississippi, where his father taught mathematics. P. G. married Fannie E. Archer on 18 June 1890 in Hinds County MS, and became an Episcopal minister. In 1900 he was rector at St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Jackson, MS. After the rector at Houston, Rev. Henry D. Aves, was named Bishop of Mexico in 1904, Peter Gray Sears replaced him at Christ Church in Houston. The postcard was sent not long after the Reverend moved to Houston, and may have served as notice to a professional colleague that he was no longer in Jackson or even Mississippi. He was the perfect choice for rector, especially appropriate with his grandfather a founding member of Christ Church more than fifty years before, and his Uncle an important attorney in Houston’s early years. Peter’s older brother, William G. Sears, following in their Uncle’s footsteps, had come to Houston to practice law as a young man in the early 1880’s. Houston must have seemed very welcoming when he arrived and those in charge of the town would have known of his family connections. P. G. Sears had an important, long-standing role as a moral beacon for the city of Houston for many years. As Peter Gray Sears moved to Houston, he had three children: Claudius Wistar Sears (b. 1891), Frances Goldsborough Sears (1893), and Alice Gray Sears (1903). As rector he officiated in many marriages, including his daughters, and left many documents to the public record. He was involved at the decision-making level with many signal events in Houston’s history, and his record includes handwritten notes that can be consulted for handwriting comparison with the postcard to support the hypothesis that he is the author of the postcard [See his letter concerning the Houston Negro Hospital]. Peter Gray Sears remained as rector through 1925 when the enterprising Hogg Brothers, sons of the former Governor of Texas, offered to buy the half-block occupied by Christ Church for $750,000. Sears was in favor of the sale, in order to gain resources for Christian missions. The entire city became engaged in the controversy, but church membership refused the offer, even after it was raised to $1,000,000. Afterwards Peter resigned the rector ship, and ultimately became the rector of Palmer Episcopal Church opposite Rice University. Peter was widowed by the death of his wife Fanny on 3 November 1927, and he began to live with his daughter Alice and his son-in-law William Franklin Akin. He died 26 January 1942, and was buried next to his wife in Glenwood Cemetery with many of his relations: son Claudius Wistar Sears (1891-1963), daughter Frances Sears Cage (1893-1952), daughter Alice Gray Sears Akin (1903-1995), grandfather William Fairfax Gray (1787-1841), grandmother Milly Richards Stone Gray (1800-1851), Uncle Peter W. Gray (1819-1874). |
2. Christ Church Cathedral
from San Jacinto
23 January 1905: 1. Armory, 1893-1931 (replaced by the Sterling Building); 2. Rice Hotel, 5 floors, 1883-1911; 3. Binz Building, 6 floors, 1898-1982; 4. Moore Burnett Building, 1012-19 Texas Avenue; 5. Christ Church Cathedral, 1893; 6. Christ Church Rectory.
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16 May 2019: 1. Magnolia Hotel (Houston Post-Dispatch Building, Shell Building), 609 Fannin, 22 floors, 1926; 2. Parking Structure for Hines North Tower, 609 Main, 48 floors, 2017; 3. JPMorgan Chase Center, 601 Travis, 20 floors, 1982; 4. Texas Commerce Tower, 600 Travis, 75 floors, 1982; 5. Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana St., 1966; 6. Houston Police Department Central Patrol Center, 61 Reisner St., 7 floors. 1950; 7. Calpine Center, 717 Texas, 34 floors, 2003; 8. The Rice (Rice Hotel), 909 Texas Avenue, 18 floors, 1912 (18th floor added 1951); 9. Binz Building, 1001 Texas Avenue, 13 floors, 1982; 10. Binz Building Garage, 1025 Texas Avenue, 9 floors, 1991; 11. Aris at Market Square, 900 Preston St., 32 floors, 2017; 12. Christ Church bookstore and offices.
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Postmarked: 23 January 1905; Houston, Tex.
Stamp: 1c Blue Green Ben Franklin #300 To: Dr. Percy T. Fenn Texarkana, Arkansas Message: [Front] Marked on building: “Rectory” |
Both postcards were sent at the same time from Houston, TX.
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