St James Episcopal Church - Harper, KS
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 17.149 W 098° 01.696
14S E 586137 N 4127022
Also called St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, the preferred name is "Old Runnymede Church".
Waymark Code: WMNFTV
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 03/08/2015
Views: 3
County of Church: Harper County
Location of Church: 11th St. & Pine St., Harper
Historic Person connected to this church: Francis J. S. Turnley
Church dedicated: May 1890
NO regular services at this church
Grace Episcopal Church of Hutchinson holds random services here.
"This photograph shows St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Runnymede, Kansas. It was a small wood-frame structure with minimal Gothic Revival detailing. The cornerstone was laid on November 28, 1889 and the church was dedicated in May 1890. The town of Runnymede was originally established to teach sons of British gentlemen the ways of successful farming in the West. Finding this agricultural experiment a waste of time, the men spent their days racing horses and throwing parties instead of working. Eventually, many of the immigrants returned to England. With their departure and the inability to attract a rail line, the town faded. St. Patrick's Church was eventually moved to Harper, Kansas and renamed St. James Episcopal Church." ~ Kansas Historical Society
"On November 28, 1889, the cornerstone was laid for the Runnymede Episcopal Church. It was a small wood-frame structure with minimal Gothic Revival detailing. It was erected in a little more than a month and dedicated in May 1890. The pride of the English colony was the Runnymede Arms, which opened as a hotel in December 1889.
"As popular as the town was to English immigrants, it was not enough to attract a rail line. Turnly was part of a group that was in negotiations with the Wichita & El Paso for several years. However it became clear in 1892 that the railroad would not be coming, and Turnly realized that the town would not be able to survive. Turnly left Kansas in July 1892 never to return." ~ Kansapedia: Kansas Historical Society
"This is the church that once stood in Runnymede, an English village, nine and one half miles northeast of Harper. The church was first dedicated as St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in 1889, but was rededicated in 1893, when the Episcopalians of Harper purchased the frame building and moved it to its present location at llth and Pine Streets.
"Runnymede was established by an Irish promoter who persuaded wealthy English and Irish families to send their sons to America to study farming. During a period of five years, this community flourished, then withered and died from the lack of a railroad, leaving us with a solitary grave in a lonely field and to the people of Harper, this church." ~ Historical Marker on site
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