St. Paul Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back around 1876, out in Guadalupe County, a group of German Lutheran faithful started gathering. No grand sanctuary, no steeple reaching up toward the Texas sky.

Just private homes and a schoolhouse, with the Rev. T. Frehner and Oscar Samuel leading worship.

Humble beginnings, sure. But something was taking root. By 1877, that something had a name: St.

Paulus Kirche. A congregation, formally organized, with a proper church structure to call home. And the land it stood on?

Donated by Mr. and Mrs. George Schlather. That kind of generosity has a way of setting a community's foundation deeper than any cornerstone.

Now here's where the story gets interesting. This congregation didn't just tend its own garden. It reached out.

In 1890, they helped organize an affiliate church over in the nearby community of Marion. Then in 1900, another one, out in Zuehl. A congregation planting congregations.

By 1905, the home church itself had grown enough to warrant a whole new building. And through all of it, every hymn, every sermon, every prayer, delivered in the German language. That's how it stayed, exclusively, until 1923.

Then came a third sanctuary, completed in 1959. Three buildings across the decades, the same congregation, still gathering. St.

Paul Church. Started in somebody's parlor, and still standing.

What the marker says

This congregation began about 1876 with German Lutheran worship services conducted by the Rev. T. Frehner and Oscar Samuel in private homes and a schoolhouse. A congregation, called St. Paulus Kirche, was formally organized and a church structure built on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. George Schlather in 1877. The congregation organized affiliate churches in the nearby communities of Marion in 1890 and Zuehl in 1900. A new church building was erected in 1905. Services were held exclusively in the German language until 1923. A third sanctuary was completed in 1959. (1993)