St. John Lutheran Church
Bishop, Nueces County, Texas
Marker Inscription
ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH IN MAY 1913, REV. F. J. LANGE HELPED THIRTEEN LOCAL FAMILIES ORGANIZE THE ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SERVED AS ITS PASTOR UNTIL 1915. THE CONGREGATION MET AT THE WEST WARD SCHOOL AND AT THE R. R. MENN FARM UNTIL 1917, WHEN IT BUILT THE CHURCH SANCTUARY, MAINLY WITH THE LABOR OF CONGREGATION MEMBERS. TO ENSURE THE CHURCH’S SELF-SUFFICIENCY, MEMBERSHIP IN THE CONGREGATION DEPENDED ON PROMPT PAYMENT OF ANNUAL ASSESSMENTS. FAILURE TO PAY MEANT BEING DROPPED FROM THE MEMBERSHIP ROSTER. FROM 1913 UNTIL 1939, MOST CHURCH SERVICES WERE CONDUCTED IN GERMAN FOR THE PRIMARILY GERMAN AMERICAN CONGREGATION. ANTI-GERMAN PREJUDICE PROMPTED THREE KU KLUX KLAN MEMBERS TO BURN THE SANCTUARY IN 1919. THE CONGREGATION WORSHIPPED IN HENRY BERTRAM’S COW BARN UNTIL THE SANCTUARY WAS REBUILT LATER THAT YEAR. ALL GERMAN LANGUAGE SERVICES WERE DISCONTINUED IN 1939. THE CHURCH CHANGED ITS NAME TWICE. IN 1915, THE NAME BECAME ST. JOHN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND, IN 1963, THE WORD “EVANGELICAL” WAS DROPPED. IN 1940, THE CONGREGATION PURCHASED THE PRESENT CHURCH SITE FOR JUST UNDER $300 AND IMMEDIATELY BUILT A PARSONAGE AND AN EDUCATION BUILDING, REUSING MATERIAL FROM THE OLD CHURCH. WHEN WORLD WAR II DELAYED CONSTRUCTION, THE CONGREGATION WORSHIPPED IN THE EDUCATION BUILDING UNTIL THE NEW STONE SANCTUARY BUILDING’S DEDICATION IN 1951. FROM 1955 TO 1958, THE CHURCH PROPERTY EXPANDED TO INCLUDE THE REST OF THE BLOCK AND NEW OFFICES, CLASSROOMS AND RESTROOMS. IN 1972, A NEW PARSONAGE WAS BUILT. FOR OVER A CENTURY, THE CHURCH HAS SYMBOLIZED THE PIETY AND PERSEVERANCE OF ITS GERMAN AMERICAN FOUNDERS AND SERVED THE COMMUNITY OF BISHOP. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1913 by thirteen German American families near Bishop, this Lutheran congregation built its first sanctuary largely with members' own hands and long worshipped in German. Anti-German feeling in the World War I era led three Ku Klux Klan members to burn that building in 1919—the congregation met in a cow barn until it was rebuilt—and German-language services finally ended in 1939, with a new stone sanctuary dedicated in 1951.
Why it matters
Its story captures both the immigrant faith communities of rural Texas and the nativist hostility they faced during and after the First World War.
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Related people
- · Rev. F. J. Lange
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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