Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church out in Travis County. Now, the story doesn't start with a building. It starts with a horse.

Circuit riders were already making their rounds through this area back in 1852, holding religious services wherever folks could gather. No walls, no steeple, just the word carried on horseback across the Texas countryside. That went on for years.

Then in 1869, the Texas Synod of the Lutheran church made a more deliberate move and sent Pastor F. Ernst to preach to the local Lutherans who had put down roots in this part of Travis County. That was a step toward something permanent.

And permanent it became. On May 31, 1874, a congregational constitution was adopted, this time under the guidance of Pastor F. Jesse.

A congregation with a constitution needs land, and that's where William Bohls comes in. A prominent landowner in the area, Bohls donated five acres for a church building and a cemetery. Five acres given freely.

The congregation got to work, and on June 20, 1875, they dedicated a spired frame sanctuary. Picture it: a proper steeple reaching up over the Texas plain, hard won after more than two decades of circuit riders and open-air services. That frame sanctuary carried the congregation all the way to 1909, when a brick edifice was built to replace it.

Brick. Built to last. Except it burned in 1928.

After all that, after the circuit riders and the constitution and the donated land and the spired frame and the brick walls, the fire took it. So they built again. The structure standing today is that third telling of the same story, raised from the ashes of 1928.

Some congregations only get one building. This one earned three.

What the marker says

Circuit riders began in 1852 to hold religious services in this area. In 1869, the Texas Synod of the Lutheran church sent Pastor F. Ernst to preach to the local Lutherans, and on May 31, 1874, a congregational constitution was adopted under the guidance of Pastor F. Jesse. William Bohls, a prominent landowner, donated five acres of land for a church building and cemetery. On June 20, 1875, a spired frame sanctuary was dedicated. A brick edifice was built in 1909, and after it burned in 1928, this structure was erected. (1974)