Church raises old steeple, builds prayer garden

EDINBURG – Kathryn Brough, 16, and her brother Evan, 19, rushed Friday morning to the First United Methodist Church of Edinburg to see workers raise the steeple of their old church.

The steeple had been sitting in a field for more than a decade.

The Broughs never went to the old church in downtown Edinburg on Cano Street. When they joined the church, it had moved to a new location on Highway 107 and Mon Mack Street.

“It’s really important to me. Since it was sitting there, I did not think they were going to do anything with it. I heard so many stories about the old church, so seeing the steeple (being raised) makes me happy,” said Kathryn Brough.

Margie Flanagan, 79, did attend the old church, which was built in 1926, and she witnessed the addition to that building in 1956 that included installation of the steeple. She also went Friday to see the raising of the steeple.

Due to lack of parking space and land for expansion, the congregation sold its old church building more than a decade ago, and purchased the new location, which sits on about 14 acres of land, according to church member Dwayne Bair.

During the transaction, members negotiated to keep the steeple because the new owners where going to demolish the old church and build a bank.

Church members placed the steeple on the field near Mon Mack Street

Back then they brought the steeple and placed it on the field near Mon Mack Street, where it sat for months and then for years. Even as grass grew around it, members were concerned it would fall victim to graffiti.

 A little bit more than a year ago, Bair brought up the fact that the steeple was just sitting there. The mention landed him the position of heading a project committee.

That committee decided to build a prayer garden, with a concrete structure in the center to hold the steeple, Bair said.

 “It could be used for weddings or people can come and sit and pray if they want to,” he said.

The steeple was going to be raised two weeks ago, but it got pushed back when organizers rthat the inner wood was damaged and needed to be replaced.

But on Friday with a 15,000-pound scissor lift and five workers, the steeple was put into place.

“What a process” Flanagan said. “I am so glad to see this up,”

The project brought hope and inspiration to the new generations who now belong to the congregration.

“It’s nice to see the history that’s been sitting in the field for so long being put in the new structure, bring history to become part of the future,” Evan Brough said.

The siblings see the construction as another step in building up their church.

“It’s really great that we are going to keep moving forward. We are going to look back and reflect on our past and use that to keep going,” Kathryn Brough said.  

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Martha L. Hernández covers health, business and general assignments for The Monitor and El Nuevo Heraldo. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.