The rest of the story…. Frank asked how old this little church was? I am very partial to this church because I have a photo similar to this one, hanging over my fireplace. Frank's question needed to be answered, so I started digging into the history of this church. I found that the church was part of a movie set, not a real church. Elvis Presley filmed Charro at the nearby Apacheland Movie Studio. This church was blown up by a canon in the movie (well, not really...it was a movie!). The church is known as Elvis chapel. Apacheland burned twice. Both times Elvis chapel was spared. The last fire spared only Elvis chapel and the Rifleman barn (opening scene of the Rifleman series). Both buildings were taken apart piece by piece and moved the seven miles to this spot. Apacheland had a rich history of movie/tv series making that came to an end with the last fire in 2004. It was open for forty-three years. Some of the tv shows filmed there were Wyatt Earp, Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, The Virginian, Rawhide, some episodes of Little House on the Prairie. Audie Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley and Jason Robards were some of the stars that filmed at Apacheland.
Charro was filmed in 1969 with a budget of 1.5 million dollars. It was not a real big hit. The lead was originally offered to Clint Eastwood. Elvis took the lead and his name stuck to the church.
So, the little church was never really a legitimate church and is not really as old as it looks, but it does have an interesting name and an interesting past.