With little time passed since his last project, Bill Marquis is restoring another old building for the Denton County Historical Commission.

This time he’s restoring a church.

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The old Elm Ridge United Methodist Church is Bill Marquis’ next restoration project. A developer gave the building to the Denton County Historical Commission. After restoration and fundraising, it will eventually be moved to the Denton County Historical Park, where the commission plans to make it available for weddings and other events.

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Elm Ridge United Methodist Church was built in 1920, a few miles east of Denton. Originally, the windows on each side of the church door were frosted. A raised platform with railings served as the altar, and two Sunday school rooms branched off the building on the side.  

“It is going to look just like it did when it was new when I am through with it,” said Marquis, who has worked on several projects for the Historical Commission before, including a servant’s quarters and a house from Quakertown.

However, the Sunday school rooms will not be included in the restored church building, and the back of the building will include a bride’s room, bath and kitchen, not in the original design.

“This is because we intend for people to use it as a church,” said Georgia Caraway, executive director of Denton County Museums. The restored church will be available for weddings.

Eventually, Elm Ridge Church will join three houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s in the Denton County Historical Park on West Mulberry Street.

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This 1920 building on U.S. Highway 380, originally designed as a church, was the former location of Villa Grande Mexican restaurant; before that, it was part of the original Prairie House Restaurant. The roof suffered damage during a fierce storm in April 2007.

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Already on those grounds, the old Quakertown building houses the Denton County African American Museum, which opened in February. The museum’s exhibits tell the stories of several Quakertown families.

The park’s first building, the Bayless-Selby House Museum, more than 120 years old, is filled with pots, pans, rugs, furniture, china and other an­tiques from the Victorian era.

Marquis recently restored a servant’s quarters from 1904 to serve as a welcome center for Historical Park visitors.

Until it is moved to the park, Elm Ridge Church remains at FM720 and U.S. Highway 380 in Cross Roads, where it was the location of the Prairie House restaurant from 1992 to 1999.

“I hope the historical committee is successful with the project,” said Prairie House owner Jim Murray. “I am happy to help in any way that I can.”

When the restaurant changed locations, landlord Jeani Hill took over the building and leased it to Villa Grande, a Mexican restaurant, until about six months ago, according to Murray.

Allegiance Development bought the land the church was on from Hill, and gave the church to the Denton County Historical Committee.

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The old Elm Ridge United Methodist Church on U.S. Highway 380 in Cross Roads is being restored by the Denton County Historical Commission. The building most recently housed a restaurant.

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Caraway expects that Elm Ridge Church will be in the Historical Park within a year. The next project is to raise the money to have the church moved, said Caraway.

“The aim of the Historical Park is to represent a community,” Caraway said. “You cannot have a community without a church.”

Fred Funk, whose father, Joe, served as pastor of Elm Ridge Church from 1967 to 1970 and from 1982 to 1985, told Caraway about the church when he learned that Allegiance Development bought the land.

“I grew up in the church,” Funk said. “I was piano player for it.”

He and his father sold the church to Murray after the community built a new brick church to replace the wooden one. Because of fire hazards, insurance on the old church cost too much, Funk said.

“You would not believe how much lumber is in that thing,” Murray said.

Melvena Noles, Fred Funk’s sister, is glad to see Elm Ridge Church will be used as a church again. “I am very excited about this project,” she said.