Comfort Community Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Comfort Community Church in Kendall County. Now, some buildings just hold their ground. They don't ask for much attention.

They just stand there, year after year, and let the story come to them. This one's been doing exactly that since 1892. That's when this Gothic revival building was dedicated, built to serve the Deutsche Evangelische Gemeinde, which is to say the German Evangelical Congregation.

That congregation had been founded just the year before, in 1891, by the Reverend Frederick Bauer. So the ink on the congregation was barely dry when they went ahead and raised themselves a proper church. A Gothic revival, no less.

Out here in the Texas Hill Country. They were not thinking small. Then, around 1898, somebody looked up at that roofline and decided it needed a bell tower.

And they were right. For over fifty years after that, the Lutherans who called this building home kept the doors open to other denominations as well. Shared the space, shared the pews, shared whatever Sunday had to offer.

Over time, the building became known simply as the Comfort Community Church. A name that says just about everything you need to know about what was happening inside those walls. Then in 1947, the congregation was renamed the Immanuel Lutheran Church, and the building has kept right on serving them ever since.

Same ground, same walls, same bell tower they added around 1898. Some buildings just hold their ground. This is one of them.

What the marker says

Dedicated in 1892, this Gothic revival building first served the Deutsche Evangelische Gemeinde (German Evangelical Congregation), founded the previous year by the Rev. Frederick Bauer. The bell tower was added about 1898. For over 50 years, the Lutherans shared their building with other denominations, and the structure became known as the Comfort Community Church. It continues to serve the Immanuel Lutheran Church, as the congregation was renamed in 1947. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986