First Lutheran Church

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of First Lutheran Church in Temple, Bell County. Back in 1886, a man named Reverend Carl Kreutzenstein organized a congregation for Temple's German-speaking Lutherans, and they gave it a proper name right from the start: Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church. That's a name with some weight to it.

The charter members were families whose names read like a roll call of the old country. Schmidt, Paulus, Scholz, Koch, Bosl, Jahnke, Rhein, and Haedge. Eight families planting roots in Central Texas soil.

They put up a small frame sanctuary at the corner of Avenue F and Fourth Street, and that was enough. For a while. Those congregations have a way of growin', and by 1913, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran had outgrown its little frame building.

A new structure went up at Avenue G and South First, more room for more families, more voices filling the pews. The years kept rolling. Then came 1946, and the congregation made a decision that speaks to how a community sees itself after six decades of life together.

They renamed the church First Lutheran Church. Simpler. Planted.

Like they weren't going anywhere. And they weren't, because in 1958, a new sanctuary was built right here at this site. What Reverend Kreutzenstein started with eight German-speaking families and a frame building on Avenue F had found its permanent home.

What the marker says

When this church was organized by the Rev. Carl Kreutzenstein in 1886 for Temple's German-speaking Lutherans, it was named Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church. Charter members included the Schmidt, Paulus, Scholz, Koch, Bosl, Jahnke, Rhein, and Haedge families. A small frame sanctuary was built at the corner of Avenue F and Fourth Street. By 1913 the congregation needed larger facilities, and a new building was erected at Avenue G and South First. In 1946 the church was renamed First Lutheran Church. A new sanctuary was built at this site in 1958. (1989)