St. Paul Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Coryell County, in a stretch of Texas that German farmers were busy turning into something that felt like home, a man named William Winkler had a vision. This was the late 1870s, and Winkler and a handful of other area pioneers got to work organizing a Lutheran congregation.

Now, organizing a congregation and having a proper congregation are two different things, and they knew it. So they did it right. In 1883, they had it formally chartered, and St.

Paul Lutheran Church had a name to stand on. Then by 1896, the members had done something remarkable. They erected a sanctuary, right there on Winkler's own farm.

And they called a pastor, the Reverend Huge, their first full-time pastor. Think about that for a moment. A church, a name, a building, a shepherd.

From a handshake agreement in the late 1870s to all of that. But here is where the story takes that particular Texas turn. The congregation grew.

It kept growing. And a church that had been just the right size started feeling a little small around the shoulders. So in 1908, they did what you do when you've outgrown your boots.

They moved. They came to this site, in a place called The Grove. And when they gathered here, they brought everything with them, including the language.

Services at St. Paul Lutheran Church were often held in both English and German, deep roots in the German Christian tradition holding firm even as the community found its footing in a new land. William Winkler started something in the late 1870s that just kept on going.

What the marker says

During the late 1870s German farmer William Winkler and other area pioneers organized a Lutheran congregation that was formally chartered in 1883 as St. Paul Lutheran Church. By 1896 members had erected a sanctuary on Winkler's farm and had called the Rev. Huge as their first full-time pastor. When the fellowship outgrew the first church building, they moved to this site in The Grove in 1908. With deep roots in the German Christian tradition, services at St. Paul Lutheran Church were often held in both English and German. (1983)