St. John Lutheran Church
Coryell City, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The area around Coryell City was settled in the 1880s by a number of German immigrant families. Desiring to worship in their native language, a group of settlers began meeting together in homes. The Rev. Johannes Barthel of the Luthern Church occassionally conducted services for the settlers. He was succeeded by the Rev. R. Seils, who officially organized St. John Luthern Church on December 7, 1889, in the Home of Fritz Wiede. The congregation purchased two acres of land and built their first sancturary in 1890. It was replaced by a larger structure in 1908, which served the congregation until it was destroyed by fire in 1921. A new sanctuary built that year was replaced by a red brick structure in 1959. Worship services were periodically conducted in the German language until 1952, despite some ill feeling the practice caused during the years of World War I. Adjacent to the church is the St. John Lutheran Cemetery. Dating to the 1890s, it is the final resting place of many church and community members, including verterans of World War I, World War II, and Vietnam.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German immigrant families who settled around Coryell City in the 1880s wanted to worship in their native tongue, meeting in homes until the Rev. R. Seils formally organized this congregation in 1889. Successive sanctuaries—built in 1890, 1908, and 1921 after a fire—culminated in a 1959 brick church, while German-language services persisted until 1952 despite friction during World War I. The adjacent cemetery holds church members and veterans of the World Wars and Vietnam.
Why it matters
The church records the tenacity of German-language immigrant culture in Texas and the strains it endured through the anti-German sentiment of wartime.
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Related people
- · Rev. Johannes Barthel
- · Rev. R. Seils
- · Fritz Wiede
Themes & tags
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