Industry Methodist Church
Industry, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized 1847 by the Rev. Henry Bauer, missionary to the German settlers. In 1867, this building was erected under the leadership of the pastor, the Rev. Karl Biel. This was an era of financial difficulty, and the funds were raised only by very great sacrifices on the part of the people. Men of congregation did the construction work. The Rev. A. M. Roos was pastor of the 100th anniversary. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Industry Methodist Church was organized in 1847 by the Rev. Henry Bauer, a missionary to the German immigrants settling this corner of Austin County. In 1867, during a lean and difficult era, the congregation raised its building — funds gathered through great sacrifice, with the men of the church doing the construction themselves. A century later, the Rev. A.M. Roos led the congregation's 100th-anniversary observance.
Why it matters
The church is a monument to the German settlers who founded Texas's first German community and sustained their faith and language through years of hardship.
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Related people
- · Henry Bauer
- · Karl Biel
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Industry United Methodist Cemetery
Industry, TX
Industry claims the title of the oldest permanent German settlement in Texas, and this burial ground has served its community since the mid-1800s, with land deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1854. When the national Methodist church split over the sectional tensions of the Civil War era, even the cemetery was divided into North and South portions—only rejoined in 2003. The oldest known grave, that of infant Heinrich Moeller, dates to 1860, and Civil War veterans rest here among many unmarked graves.
Industry Pilgrims Rest Cemetery
Industry, TX
When Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fortran settled at the western edge of Stephen F. Austin's colony in 1831, the town of Industry became the first permanent German settlement in Texas. Travelers on the Gotier Trace passed through on their way west, and many stayed; the cemetery, formally deeded in 1873 by Ernst's daughter, held graves long before that, including Louise Ernst Stoehr, remembered on her tombstone as "the first German settler in Texas." German pioneers, Austin colonists, and Republic of Texas soldiers rest here together.
Lindemann-Ott House
Industry, TX
Jacob Ott, a baker who emigrated from Worms, Germany, began building this two-story home with a carpenter neighbor in 1870, using the ground floor for his bakery. Ott later became a Methodist minister, and the property passed through owners including storekeepers Fritz Holze and Edward Lindemann, whose family lived here for decades. With its Queen Anne detailing and center-passage plan, the house links generations of the German community of Industry, Texas.
Lindemann Store
Industry, TX
Opened in 1884 in the German farming community of Industry, the Lindemann Store became the social and commercial heart of the surrounding countryside. Farmers bartered produce for manufactured goods, a "peddle wagon" carried supplies out to the farms, and the arrival of the railroad in 1892 let the family expand into freighting. As the decades turned, the store shifted from general merchandise toward agri-business, staying in family hands throughout.