Immanuel Lutheran Church
Posey, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Posey Community grew from a 1911 railroad switch on the AT&SF line to a settlement of about 70 in 1941. One of its earliest organizations was the Immanuel Lutheran Church, composed largely of German immigrants lured by railroad advertising and speculator promotion. The congregation formed in the nearby town of Slaton in 1915. Church membership grew quickly and when it could no longer meet in private homes, leaders decided to build a church in Posey. Immanuel Lutheran Church was dedicated on September 26, 1920. As the surrounding area grew, so did the church. By the next decade, the chapel was too small and was rebuilt and dedicated on April 16, 1939. Church services were held in German and English until the 1940s. The 1950s and 1960s saw more renovations made, including remodeled interiors, a remodeled parsonage, a new well and an education building. The church building consists of the main hall, a tower and an adjacent educational building connected by a covered walkway. The chapel is wood frame and stucco with the entryways, doors and windows framed by gothic archways. The roof, formerly shingled, is now covered in sheet metal and the ends and façade are gabled. Along the edges of the roof is a cast stone parapet. The tower is also covered with a cast stone parapet and includes many gothic arched windows and gabled windows toward the top, suggesting a possible former bell tower function. The educational building is a simple gabled structure. The congregation celebrated its centennial in 2015.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Posey grew from a 1911 railroad switch on the AT&SF line into a small farming settlement of German immigrants drawn west by railroad advertising and land promoters. The Immanuel Lutheran congregation formed in nearby Slaton in 1915 and dedicated its own church in Posey in 1920, holding services in both German and English into the 1940s. Rebuilt in 1939 with gothic-arched windows and a cast-stone parapet, the church anchored the community through a century, celebrating its centennial in 2015.
Why it matters
The church records how German-speaking immigrants planted enduring religious and cultural roots on the South Plains, and how the shift from German to English services traced their gradual assimilation into American life.
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