Trinity Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Way out in Hamilton County, in the community of Pottsville and the land surrounding it, German Lutherans were putting down roots. In 1891, they came together and formed an evangelical Lutheran congregation.

Now, a congregation needs a place to gather, and for a good while, these folks made the trip to the McGirk Community Schoolhouse, twelve miles south, to hold their services. That's where the faithful met, week after week, until 1907, when they finally built a sanctuary of their own, right near Pottsville. The first resident pastor, the Reverend F.

Naumann, had come to serve the congregation back in 1898, and he shepherded that flock until 1903. The year after the new sanctuary went up, 1908, the congregation established a German school. And every word spoken in worship, every hymn, every sermon, was delivered in the German language.

That's how it was, all the way until 1929. Decades of faith spoken in the old tongue, carried on the Texas air. But then came 1937, and the original church building was destroyed by fire.

You might think that's where the story ends. It is not. The congregation built a new sanctuary, right here at this site, and they carried on.

Some things, it turns out, can't be burned away.

What the marker says

German Lutherans in Pottsville and surrounding communities formed an evangelical Lutheran congregation in 1891. The first resident pastor, the Rev. F. Naumann, served from 1898 to 1903. Church services were held in the McGirk Community Schoolhouse (12 miles south) until 1907, when a sanctuary was built near Pottsville. The congregation established a German school in 1908. Worship services were conducted exclusively in the German language until 1929. A new sanctuary was built at this site after the original church building was destroyed by fire in 1937.