SALADO, Texas — After months of planning and fundraising, the historic 1908 Old Church Place in Salado was successfully moved to a new location on Tuesday, April 2.
The relocation of the 115-year-old building is part of the Salado Historical Society's (SHS) efforts to preserve and promote the rich history of the village. The move of the 1908 Old Church Place is to reflect some of the first pioneers who helped build the village.
"This building is representing that early establishment of religion in Salado," said Bill Kinnison, president of SHS. "They're not the only ones, there were other denominations, but if they didn't have a place to meet they might not have grown as they did."
Kinnison explained to 6 News that the 1908 Old Church Place was the second Church of Christ that was built in Salado because the first one burned down. However, it hasn't served as a church in several decades.
"There are a number of people here in Salado who have memories of going to church in that building, so it's very special to them to see the Historical Society pick up that project and want to put it in a position where other people can see that and of course, the community can enjoy," Kinnison added.
SHS fundraised "a lot of money" with the support of the village to move the 1908 Old Church Place to behind the Salado Civic Center. The around one-mile move took about an hour and a half Tuesday night and required lots of planning and parts of Main Street to be closed. Kinnison said he is thankful they hired a house mover who really knew what they were doing.
"No problems whatsoever," Kinnison added. "Galleys on either side of the road, there were road signs, there were street signs. He missed every one of those, but it was a slow move."
Kinnison said they were most worried about the telephone lines, but they had crews sneaking the structure down Main Street by inches.
Now that the structure has been moved, the SHS will work on refurbishing it, while still restoring some of the elements of the 115-year-old building.
"We don't have to restore it as a historic building, but we want to keep as much of the historical look as we possibly can, but it's going to take restoring it inside and out," Kinnison said.
More images of the move can be found at this link.
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