Holy Ghost (Heilige Geist) Evangelical Protestant Church
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation traces its origins to the first Protestant services held in Fredericksburg by the Rev. Henry Basse in 1846. Members worshiped at the old Vereins Kirche until 1888 when Carl Priess gave this lot for a new building. The first portion of the structure was dedicated in 1893. The tower houses an original bell from the Vereins Kirche. In 1948-49 the building was remodeled and enlarged, and the congregation became Holy Ghost Lutheran Church. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This congregation grew from the first Protestant services held in the German settlement of Fredericksburg by the Rev. Henry Basse in 1846, the year the town was founded. Members worshiped in the communal Vereins Kirche until 1888, when Carl Priess donated a lot for a dedicated building completed in 1893; its tower still holds a bell from the original church. A 1948–49 remodeling accompanied the congregation's transition to Holy Ghost Lutheran Church.
Why it matters
The church's history reflects the deep German immigrant roots of the Texas Hill Country, where transplanted faith and language shaped a distinctive American community.
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Related people
- · Rev. Henry Basse
- · Carl Priess
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mosel-Jordan-Duecker Haus
Fredericksburg, TX
Johann Nicholas Mosel received this Fredericksburg lot from the German Emigration Company in 1847 and raised a rough limestone dwelling, the oldest part of the present house, which he later may have used as a "Sunday house" after moving to an outlying farm. German immigrant August William Jordan bought the property in 1860, and it passed to Henry Duecker, who added frame rooms in 1924. The layered structure earned a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation in 1986.
The Schandua Building
Fredericksburg, TX
Built in 1897 of hand-hewn limestone, this Fredericksburg building followed the German settlers' practical custom of home over shop: the Schandua family lived upstairs while John ran his hardware store below, and for a time the Masonic lodge met on the upper floor in trade for help with construction costs. After John's death his brother Henry married his widow, enlarged the building, and carried on the business. Hardware was sold here until 1972.
Old Central Drugstore
Fredericksburg, TX
Swiss-born jeweler and watchmaker Alphons Walter raised this two-story building in the heart of Fredericksburg in 1905, then sold it in 1909 to civic leader Robert Striegler, who ran the Central Drugstore on the ground floor. A drugstore would occupy the site for more than 70 years, while the upper floor housed the town's telephone exchange, doctors' offices, and a photographer's studio.
Schmidt-Gold House
Fredericksburg, TX
German stonemason Lorenz Schmidt, a pioneer of the Adelsverein colony that founded Fredericksburg, built this house in the 1860s; he was also among the builders of the town's landmark Vereins Kirche. In 1902 businessman Jacob Gold, Sr. — founder of the Rheingold community — raised it to two full stories. Its stonework and design reflect the craftsmanship the German immigrants carried to the Texas Hill Country.