St. Peter Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about St. Peter Lutheran Church in Gillespie County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way the best Texas stories do, out in the open air, under nothing but branches and sky.

September 1896, a group of German Lutherans gathered beneath a brush arbor out near Lange's Mill. No walls, no steeple, no pews. Just faith and the shade of whatever trees were willing to cooperate.

That was the beginning of St. Peter Lutheran Church, and Gillespie County has never been quite the same since. Two years after that brush arbor gathering, the congregation put up a proper frame church building in 1898.

Now, for some folks, a frame church would have been just fine forever. But not these folks. They had something bigger in mind, and they had the hands to build it.

Between 1912 and 1913, the congregation raised up a Gothic revival structure, and here is where the story gets worth looking at slowly. They built it themselves, these church members, using native limestone pulled right out of the county's own ground. What they built features a central projecting bell tower and a pressed metal steeple topped with a cross, stone quoins at the corners, and arched Gothic windows that pull your eyes upward whether you mean for them to or not.

Think about that for a moment. German Lutherans who started under a brush arbor at Lange's Mill finished with Gothic arches and a steeple. Over a hundred years of Gillespie County history, and it all traces back to that September gathering in the open air.

What the marker says

Organized by German Lutherans in September 1896 under a brush arbor at nearby Lange's Mill, this church has been part of Gillespie County history for over 100 years. A frame church building erected in 1898 was replaced by this Gothic revival structure in 1912-1913. built by church members using native limestone, the building features a central projecting bell tower and pressed metal steeple with cross stone quoins, and arched Gothic windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988