The Cafe Raven Office Space
Months after meeting in the home of the Harpers, the group moved to an office building above the Café Raven, on the Square. Elder Whitney R. Checketts secured the space “free of rent and utilities.”[15] After securing the space, they made it feel more like they started a church by purchasing: three dozen metal folding chairs, three dozen hymn books, and a sacrament table with chairs.[16] The church services in the office space only had Sunday school and sacrament.[17] Nowadays, there are three hours of service consisting of one hour of Sacrament Meeting, and two hours that are split between Sunday school and Priesthood (for men) or Relief Society (for women). A few of the members from the Melbourne Ward, about two or three couples, attended what church services they had at the Café Raven.[18] Lorita Ballew, a convert at eleven years old in Houston, moved to Huntsville in 1954. She remembers that the space above the Café Raven “wasn’t the most desirable meeting place, but it was ours for a while”.[19] There were twenty-five members in the record book at this time coming from Huntsville and Oakhurst, with some members traveling over twenty-five miles to attend church services.[20][21] This is a small number of members, compared to the one million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world.[22] Since there was a university in Huntsville—Sam Houston State University (1879) was established well before the traveling missionaries came through Texas—the Huntsville area was a central location for the members to meet. [23]
Source Footnotes
[15] James S. Olson and Lucky Beck Grissom, A History of Walker County, Texas, “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”
[16] Ibid.
[17] Clint A. Hawkins, “A Talk on Mormon History of Texas & Houston, 1843-1989”
[18] James S. Olson interview
[19] Sister Lorita Ballew, “Reflections on the Huntsville Ward,” January 2006
[20] Ballew, A. E. and Lorita Ballew, “Huntsville Ward History”
[21] James S. Olson and Lucky Beck Grissom, A History of Walker County, Texas, “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”
[22] “History of the Church,” Official Website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[23] James S. Olson interview
