A “Tearing Down” and the Aspiration to Something Greater: A Freedom Colony Church Falls in Vox Populi, Texas”

Abstract

What caused the failure of the last vital cultural, educational, and spiritual institution in Vox Populi Texas, a freedom colony in Colorado County, Texas? Why were established balloon framing construction methods consistently compromised during the construction phases? Was this an example of faith over function? The wall failure which ultimately led to the abandonment of the South Point Baptist Church was investigated as part of a study of construction phasing and related compromises to the structural capacity of the structure in the context of balloon framing practices of the time from 1850 to 1920. This investigation was made possible by third-party theft/harvesting of interior sheathing and flooring which has exposed the improvisational wall and floor framing. Archival research on Vox Populi and the South Point Baptist Church was conducted at the Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus Texas. Digital models of the church construction phases were developed, and framing detail models constructed of key structural conditions to understand their modification and their possible role in the failure of the South wall which ultimately lead to the church’s abandonment and subsequent fall to ruin between 2011 and 2020. The use of an improvisational method of balloon framing was likely provoked by resource shortages at the time of the initial construction, likely 1900, and was compromised by later construction phases where the first phase (of 4 phases) meeting hall construction had its lateral resistance compromised to a point where the structure was no longer capable of transferring wind load from the roof and wall to the foundations. The resulting displacement of the South wall and subsequent openings in the roof and floor resulted in a deterioration of the roof, wall, and floor at the juncture of the phase 1 meeting hall and phase 3 rostrum additions. The required structural repair exceeded the capability of the congregation resulting in the abandonment of the South Point Baptist church in 2012. Demolition/harvesting of interior surfaces, the bell, and cornerstones by parties unknown began in 2016, has since stopped and the building stands precariously, some 136 years after its post-emancipation organization.