Zion Lutheran Church

Duane's take

Now, what I'm about to tell you comes straight from the official marker for Zion Lutheran Church out in Walburg, Williamson County — this is my telling of it. Pull over and listen close, because this story starts on the other side of the world. There is a Slavic people called the Wends, from a region of Germany known as Lusatia — sitting right up near the borders with the Czech Republic and Poland.

Not German exactly, not quite anything else either. Their own people, their own tongue, their own stubborn sense of who they were. And in the 1850s, a good number of them decided that what they needed was a fresh start — in Texas, of all places — following a minister by the name of Reverend John Kilian.

They planted themselves in what is now Serbin, down in Lee County, and for a while that was home. But pioneers have a way of not staying put. Come the late 1870s, a number of those same settlers — or their children, restless as ever — started drifting northeast into Williamson County.

The settlement they built there would come to be known as Walburg. Now, in 1882, under the guidance of the Reverend J.H. Maisch, those settlers did what people do when they mean to stay somewhere: they built a church.

They called it the Zion Evangelica Lutheran Church of Concordia. Nine charter members signed on from the start — Wilhelm Andres, August Doehre, Albert Krause, John Neitsch, Albert Ramm, Andreas Schneider, Jacob Schomber, John Schulze, and Carl Streich. Nine names.

Nine people who looked at that stretch of Williamson County and said, this is the place. That same year, 1882, they established a church cemetery — and the first recorded burial happened that very same year. There's a weight to that.

A community planting roots and saying goodbye to one of its own, almost in the same breath. Because education mattered deeply to these settlers — mattered enough that they founded a school right alongside the church, also in 1882. That school, I want you to hear this, continues to educate students today.

Of course, nothing worth keeping comes easy. June of 1886 brought a fierce tornado down on that community — the kind of storm that doesn't ask permission — and it moved the church building clean off its foundation. You read that right.

Picked it up and shifted it. But the congregation rebuilt. They placed additions on both the church and the school.

They kept going. More than a century on, Zion Lutheran Church and School are still there, still serving the people of Walburg and Williamson County. And since 1971, every year, the church has brought the community together for the annual Wurstbraten sausage supper.

A tornado couldn't stop them. Time hasn't stopped them. And if you ask me, a community that survives all that and still gets together every year to make sausage — well, that's a community that knows exactly who it is.

What the marker says

Zion Lutheran Church of Concordia was established in 1882 as a place of worship for immigrants of German-Wendish descent. The Wends are a Slavic people from the German area of Lusatia, near the border with the Czech Republic and Poland. Settlers immigrated to Texas in the 1850s with the Reverend John Kilian. After founding a new homeland in present-day Serbin (Lee County), a number of the pioneers began migrating in the late 1870s to the northeastern part of Williamson County. Their settlement later became known as Walburg. Under the guidance of the Reverend J.H. Maisch, settlers organized the Zion Evangelica Lutheran Church of Concordia here. The church’s nine charter members were Wilhelm Andres, August Doehre, Albert Krause, John Neitsch, Albert Ramm, Andreas Schneider, Jacob Schomber, John Schulze and Carl Streich. The church cemetery was also established in 1882, with the first recorded burial occurring the same year. Since education was of primary importance to the settlers, they also founded a school at that time which continues to educate students today. The congregation grew throughout the years despite challenges. A fierce June 1886 tornado wreaked havoc on the community and moved the church building off its foundation. Members have rebuilt and placed additions on both the school and the church. After over a century, Zion Lutheran Church and School continue to impact the residents of Walburg and Williamson County by serving as a place of worship and an educational institute. Since 1971, the church has served the community through the annual Wurstbraten sausage supper. (2006)