Amazing Grace in Restoring Historic Church By Anita L. Sherman
W
orth restoring. Worth preserving. Worth remembering.
Dr. Francis ‘Bud’ Andres stepped gingerly onto the floor of what once was St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Warrenton at 79 E. Lee Street. The building was erected in 1861 due to Ann America Semmes Payne, who arrived in Warrenton 13 years earlier as a new bride and a staunch Catholic. Lamenting the lack of a Catholic place of worship, she set into motion an ambitious plan to build a church in the summer of 1860. By the following year, St. John’s was erected because of her fundraising efforts. The parish didn’t have long to gather. The Civil War had both Union and Confederate casualties needing assistance after the battles of Bull Run. The Town of Warrenton changed hands some 60 times during the war and the church served as a hospital for hundreds.
Photo by Anita Sherman
Dr. Francis “Bud” Andres
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