First English Evangelical Lutheran Church

Travis Broesche, who designed the limestone church, was a Lutheran himself. Born in Ellinger in 1911, he graduated in architectural engineering from the University of Texas in 1935 and began in Brenham, where Public Works Administration money paid for his Washington County Courthouse and Brenham City Hall. After the war he moved to Houston and practiced there for over forty years, designing and supervising more than 150 churches across Texas. He was an organizing member of Faith American Lutheran Church in Bellaire and returned to Brenham in his last decades.

What the plaque says

First English Evangelical Lutheran Church As early as 1846, German residents of Victoria met in private homes to read scripture and worship. A Lutheran congregation was organized on December 14, 1851, the first in Victoria County. For sixty years, the congregation flourished with all worship services conducted in German. By 1912, sentiment increased favoring a separate congregation with services in English. J.C. Felger, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Antonio, quickly arranged English services in the Ryan building on Santa Rosa Street. Pastor Felger conducted two services himself before the mission board delegated seminarian Paul Ebert to take temporary charge of the church. On October 12, 1913, the First English Evangelical Lutheran church was officially organized with 38 members. After ordination, Pastor Ebert became the first pastor of the church. Under his leadership, the church purchased a lot on north main and constructed a small frame church that served the congregation for 35 years. On January 20, 1952, a new church building was dedicated on North Main Street. The new building was constructed of limestone in the gothic architectural style and was designed by architect Travis Broesche of Houston, who designed buildings for the public works administration, churches, hospitals, schools and other commercial buildings. The church continued to grow and expand by purchasing lots within the city block to add an annex, church offices, additional parking space and an activity center. This church is a reminder of the desire for many German immigrants to assimilate more completely into the American way of life. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• De León Plaza — 0.2 mi
  The central plaza of Guadalupe Victoria, the only predominantly Mexican colony in Texas, founded by Martín De León in 1824 and taken from his family after 1836.
• Museum of the Coastal Bend — 1.6 mi
  Victoria College's museum of thirteen thousand years on the middle Texas coast, from Clovis hunters and Karankawa potters to La Salle's lost Fort St. Louis and the first ranches.
• Fannin Battleground State Historic Site — 16 mi
  The open prairie east of Goliad where Fannin's retreating column formed a square short of the Coleto Creek timber on March 19, 1836, and surrendered the next day.
• Fannin Memorial Monument — 25 mi
  The 1938 pink granite memorial over the common grave of Fannin's men, shot on the roads out of Goliad on Palm Sunday 1836, the grave itself found again only in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• First United Methodist Church of Victoria — steps away
• Viola Case — steps away
• Mitchell School — steps away
• Memorial Square — steps away