Hutto Evangelical Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Hutto Evangelical Lutheran Church, out in Williamson County. Now settle in, because this one's got roots that run deep, and at least one story that the weather itself tried to erase. Lutheran church services in Hutto trace all the way back to 1890, when two ministers, M.

Noyd and Gustav Berglund, made the trip out from the Palm Valley Lutheran Church at Brushy, a place the map now calls Round Rock. They came to conduct occasional services for a Swedish population that was growing, and growing fast. Picture those two men riding out to tend a scattered, flourishing community that was putting down roots in Texas soil, carrying a faith from an ocean away.

For a couple of years, those occasional visits were what the people had. Then, in 1892, a man named August Swenson decided that occasional just wasn't going to cut it anymore. He led a successful effort to organize the Hutto Evangelical Lutheran Church, and give the community something permanent to stand on.

They built their first church structure in 1893. And then the sky had something to say about that. A tornado came through and destroyed it.

Just like that, gone. But here's the thing about a community that crossed an ocean to get here. They didn't stop.

They replaced that church in 1894. And they kept going. By 1902, a third building was constructed right here on this very site, and it was dedicated by the Reverend O.

H. Sylvan. Services went on in the Swedish language all the way until 1940, generation after generation keeping the words of the old country alive in the Texas air.

Tornados and all, they stayed.

What the marker says

Lutheran church services in Hutto can be traced to 1890, when ministers M. Noyd and Gustav Berglund of the Palm Valley Lutheran Church at Brushy (now Round Rock) conducted occasional services for the area's rapidly growing Swedish population. In 1892 August Swenson led a successful effort to organize the Hutto Evangelical Lutheran Church. The first church structure (1893) was destroyed by a tornado and replaced in 1894. In 1902 a third church building was constructed at this site an dedicated by the Rev. O. H. Sylvan. Church services were conducted in the Swedish language until 1940.