Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
German Lutherans in the community of Cherry Spring began meeting together for worship in the 1850s. Diedrich Rode (1828-1925), a licensed lay minister, provided space in his home for worship services and Sunday School. Christ Church congregation was officially organized in 1905. John and Mary Rode Wendel gave land for a church building in December 1905, and a rock sanctuary was completed in 1906. Services were conducted in the German language until 1922, when occasional English services were added. In the 1950s English became the principal language.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German Lutheran settlers around Cherry Spring began gathering for worship in the 1850s in the home of lay minister Diedrich Rode, who opened his house for services and Sunday School. The Christ Church congregation formally organized in 1905, and by 1906 a rock sanctuary stood on land given by John and Mary Rode Wendel. Worship continued in German until 1922, and only in the 1950s did English finally become the primary language.
Why it matters
The slow shift from German to English worship charts how immigrant communities of the Texas Hill Country held onto their mother tongue for generations before assimilating.
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Related people
- · Diedrich Rode
- · John Wendel
- · Mary Rode Wendel
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Diedrich Rode Complex
Fredericksburg, TX
German-born Diedrich Rode built this cluster of buildings in the Cherry Spring community, completing a three-story limestone residence in 1880 with a top floor for storing wool and cotton from his land. A Lutheran, Rode served as an early minister and held services in a prayer chapel built into the second floor, and he taught school besides tending his ranch. The homestead passed to the Kothe family in 1929 and stayed with them for more than half a century.
Old Cherry Spring School (Das Alte Schulhaus)
Fredericksburg, TX
German immigrants founded the Cherry Spring community around 1850, teaching their children in private homes until nobleman Wilhelm Marschall von Bieberstein deeded ten acres in 1859 to a group of settlers so they could build a proper schoolhouse. Classes filled the original part of this building from 1860 to 1878, after which it served the community as a place of worship — and in 1905 became the birthplace of Christ Lutheran Church. One modest stone building held the settlement's schooling and its faith.
The Marschall-Meusebach Cemetery
Fredericksburg, TX
This Hill Country cemetery holds members of two German noble families joined by marriage. John O. Meusebach came to the Republic of Texas in 1845 leading the German Emigration Company, founded Fredericksburg in 1846, and in 1847 signed a lasting peace treaty with the Comanche—one of the rare frontier accords that held. Wilhelm Marschall von Bierberstein settled in the community in 1848, and the first burial here was that of Marschall's sister-in-law, Mathilda Weiss.
John O. Meusebach
Cherry Spring, TX
John O. Meusebach gave up a German baron's title in 1845 to become a Texan, and as commissioner-general of the German Emigration Company he founded Fredericksburg in 1846 as a gateway to the Fisher-Miller grant deep in Comanche country. Rather than fight, he rode unarmed into a council and secured a treaty that opened the land to settlement without bloodshed — earning the Comanche name "El Sol Colorado," the Red Sun. He later served as a state senator and settled at Loyal Valley, adding "Texas forever" to his family motto.