On
September 8, 1900, her greatest disaster befell Trinity parish. The city of
Galveston endured the severest hurricane in its history. Fifteen
communicants of Trinity Church were drowned, among them H.A. Hausinger, a
vestryman and superintendent of St. Michael’s Mission Sunday School. “The
whole south wall of the church was blown down, the roof badly damaged, the
interior of the church very much injured by wind and water, the entire
church being rendered unsafe and unfit for public services.” Saint
Michael’s and Saint Andrew’s missions were totally destroyed.
Bishop G. H. Kinsolving and the standing committee of the Diocese of Texas with the consent of the vestry of Trinity Church sent the rector, The Rev. Charles M. Beckwith, whose reputation as a preacher was national, to the East to raise funds to restore the churches and missions of the diocese which had been damaged or destroyed. Beckwith was absent from his parish until April 1901.
Bishop
Kinsolving served as acting rector for the remainder of 1900 and until
February 1, 1901. The services of Nicholas Clayton, the noted architect who
had designed Eaton Memorial Chapel, were enlisted. In November 1900, the
contract was let for the rehabilitation of the church edifice including “the
rebuilding of the south wall with sound Cedar Bayou bricks,” to J.M. Brown &
Co. Bishop Kinsolving allotted $12,000 to Trinity Church for repairs out of
the sixty-odd thousand dollars contributed by the generous people of other
dioceses of the Episcopal Church.
With the exception of the decoration of the interior of the church and the rebuilding of the tower, the work of the restoration of Trinity Church was completed by the end of May. On Easter, April 7, 1901, for the first time since the storm, services were held in Trinity Church.
More Photographs of the Destruction, Showing the Collapsed South Wall of the Nave
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