St. John Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I tell it to you. Way back in 1870, out in the Texas Hill Country of Llano County, German Lutherans in this area didn't have a proper church building, didn't have a full-time pastor, didn't have much of anything in the way of formal congregation. What they had was Dietrich Rode.

A circuit-riding lay minister, making his rounds, tending to the faithful scattered across the land. Now, a circuit rider covers a lot of ground, and Rode was doing exactly that, as early as 1870. That's a long time to be riding a circuit with no permanent home base.

Well, by 1893, the community had put down enough roots to organize a proper congregation. They planted it on the north side of the Llano River, out in what was called the Leiningen settlement, about three miles east of where you're standing right now. That was one church.

But here's the thing about the Texas Hill Country. The river runs through it, and a river has two sides. So in 1907, a second church went up on the south side of the Llano River, five miles east, and they called it Leiningen Two, or Zion.

Two congregations, same community, separated by a river and a few miles of Hill Country terrain. That arrangement held for a while, but 1926 brought a change. The two congregations merged, joining together under the name St.

Johannes Evangelische Gemeinde, and they built a new sanctuary to go along with the new union. And inside that sanctuary, for decades to come, the worship services were conducted in German. All the way until the 1950s, German was the language of the hymns, the sermons, the prayers.

Then the name changed, too. St. Johannes Evangelische Gemeinde became St.

John Lutheran Church. From Dietrich Rode riding alone through the hills in 1870, to two congregations, to one merged church with a new name. That's not a short road.

But then, nothing worth building ever is.

What the marker says

German Lutherans in this area were served by circuit-riding lay minister Dietrich Rode as early as 1870. A congregation was organized in 1893 on the north side of the Llano River in the Leiningen settlement (about 3 mi. E). A second church, known as Leiningen Two or Zion, was built on the south side of the river (5 mi. E) in 1907. The two congregations merged as St. Johannes Evangelische Gemeinde in 1926, and a new sanctuary was built. Worship services were conducted in German until the 1950s, and the name was changed to St. John Lutheran Church.