DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. Way out in Williamson County, as early as 1871, pioneer Swedish settlers near a place called Union Hill, about four miles south of where we're standing, were holding Methodist worship services right in their own homes. No steeple, no pews, just neighbors gathered in somebody's front room, singing and praying in Swedish out on the Texas frontier.
Now that went on for over a decade, and then in 1882 they made it official. They formally organized as a Swedish Methodist Episcopal church. A real congregation, with a name and a calling.
But they weren't done yet. The congregation moved to this very site in 1906, and that same year they completed the sanctuary you can see right here, built from native stone. Not imported timber, not a kit from back east.
Native stone, cut and laid by people who intended to stay. The name St. John's came along in 1939, and by the 1940s regular Swedish language services had quietly come to an end.
The old tongue faded, the way languages do when generations grow up in a new land. But here's what the marker wants you to know, and I think it's worth sitting with: the church programs continue to reflect the ideals, the traditions, and the rich heritage of those pioneer founders. From a home near Brushy to a stone sanctuary that's still standing.
That's the whole story, right there in the rock.
What the marker says
As early as 1871, pioneer Swedish settlers near Union Hill (4 mi. S), also known as the Brushy area, were holding Methodist worship services in homes. In 1882, they formally organized as a Swedish Methodist Episcopal church. The congregation moved to this site in 1906, when the present native stone sanctuary was completed. The name St. John's was adopted in 1939, and regular Swedish language services ended in the 1940s. Church programs, however, continue to reflect the ideals, traditions and rich heritage of the pioneer founders. (1983)