(former) Travis Street United Methodist Church of LaGrange - Round Top, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 30° 04.623 W 096° 41.644
14R E 722259 N 3329565
Renamed the Edythe Bates Chapel when relocated to Round Top.
Waymark Code: WM11HPE
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2019
Views: 4
Festival Hill Website"The Edythe Bates Old Chapel was built in La Grange in 1883 as the Episcopal Methodist Church of La Grange. The congregation of the Travis Street United Methodist Church used the sanctuary for worship until it was sold to the Festival-Institute in 1994. Moving the structure to Festival Hill took from January through April of 1994. The sanctuary was extensively restored and is now used as a venue for chamber music rehearsals and concerts, organ recitals and as a lecture hall, for the Round Top Festival Institute educational programs.
The catalyst for the acquisition and historic makeover of the structure was the desire on the part of a number of dedicated patrons to create an organ and chamber music recital hall. The late Ted W. Blankenship, Jr., of Albany, Texas presented the 1835 Henry Erben Organ to the Round Top Festival Institute in May of 1993. Friends and family of Ted W. Blankenship along with the late Edythe Bates Old raised the funds to restore the Erben organ. Edythe Bates Old (1903-1995), a longtime friend and Festival Hill patron was a Juilliard School trained organist and vocalist. Mrs. Old provided for the purchase of the church, the extensive site preparation, including the initial construction of the lower chapel, the dismantling and move from La Grange and the reassembly of the church on the created Festival Hill site. She died in 1995 and left a bequest to complete the restoration of the sanctuary, which was named for her, the Edythe Bates Old Chapel."