Trinity Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight out of Sealy, Austin County. It is a story that starts with one preacher, one sermon, and one cold February morning, and it grows from there into something that's still standing today. February 11, 1883.

Lutheran Missionary Reverend John Trinklein steps up and delivers his first sermon in Sealy. Now that alone might've been enough for one year, but Reverend Trinklein was not a man who stopped at one sermon. By October 31st of that same year, he had organized the Trinity Lutheran Church Congregation.

Halloween, if you're keeping track. The congregation, most of them of German heritage in those early days, kept their records in German, which tells you something about who these people were and where they came from. Three years pass, and on July 25, 1886, the congregation dedicates its first church structure.

Twenty-four by thirty-four feet of frame building. Not grand, but it was theirs. Then in March of 1891, the congregation bought the very ground that church sat on, purchasing the site from the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company.

Let that sink in a moment. They built the church first, then bought the land. That's a particular kind of faith right there.

Now comes 1900. You already know what happened in 1900 if you've spent any time in Texas. The great storm.

That first little frame building sustained serious damage, but the congregation repaired it, and it kept right on standing, kept right on serving, all the way until 1940, when it was finally replaced by a larger building, sixty by thirty feet. And then 1963 brought the current brick-clad sanctuary, dedicated that year along with five new Sunday school rooms. Twenty-five pastors served this congregation between 1883 and 2012, Reverend Trinklein among them.

During the church's first dozen years, two pastors were shared with Lutheran congregations over in Cat Spring and Pattison. Pastor Paul G. Heckel served from 1890 to 1893.

Pastor P.A. Wenzel followed, from 1893 to 1895. Then in 1895, Pastor A.R.

Roglitz became something of a milestone himself, the first pastor to actually live in Sealy. The campus kept growing too. September 1913 saw the dedication of a twenty by thirty-foot Sunday school building right next to the parsonage.

Additions came to that Sunday school building in 1949, and a new parish hall went up in 1955. And the people, the people kept showing up. The Ladies Aid Society was organized in April 1895.

The annual Bar-B-Que started in 1963, raising funds for local charities, and it kept on going year after year. One sermon in February of 1883, and what it built is still standing on that corner in Sealy. Some stories don't need embellishing.

They just need telling.

What the marker says

After preaching his first sermon in Sealy on February 11, 1883, Lutheran Missionary Reverend John Trinklein organized the Trinity Lutheran Church Congregation on October 31 of that same year. In the beginning, most of the congregation was of German heritage and many early church records were written in German. The congregation dedicated its first church structure, a 24 by 34-foot frame building, on July 25, 1886. In March 1891, the congregation bought the church site from the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company. Repaired after sustaining serious damage in the great storm of 1900, the original church building remained in use until it was replaced in 1940 by a larger 60 by 30-foot building. The current brick-clad sanctuary dates from 1963, when it and five new Sunday school rooms were dedicated. From 1883 to 2012, twenty-five pastors, including Rev. Trinklein, served the congregation. During its first dozen years, the church shared Pastors Paul G. Heckel (1890-93) and P.A. Wenzel (1893-1895) with the Lutheran congregations in Cat Spring and Pattison. In 1895, Pastor A.R. Roglitz became the church’s first pastor to live in Sealy. Over the years, the church campus grew to meet the congregation’s needs. In September 1913, a 20 by 30-foot Sunday school building, located next to the parsonage, was dedicated. The campus further expanded with additions to the Sunday school building in 1949 and construction of a new parish hall in 1955. For decades, the church supported activities such as the Ladies Aid Society, organized in April 1895, and the annual Bar-B-Que that started in 1963 to raise funds for local charities. (2013)