Friedens Church of Washington, UCC

Friedens began in somebody else's building. German families on Browns Prairie, with no minister, asked Rev. Peter Klindworth, a Lutheran pastor from nearby William Penn, to preach in an abandoned Baptist church, and a deed of October 1888 records two acres sold for one dollar. The congregation organized formally on October 12, 1890. Fire destroyed the country church on March 18, 1972, and members built a new sanctuary in 1974. In 1970 they had bought the old public school across the road and restored it. In 2022 the congregation left the United Church of Christ.

What the plaque says

Friedens Church of Washington, UCC Organized in 1890, the Friedens Church served the German immigrant community of Washington County. Following the Civil War an influx of German settlers moved to Washington County. In 1888, Rev. Klindworth began to hold services in response to a plea from several German families living in Washington County. His services inspired the people of the community to form a permanent church group. They decided to build a church and school building a mile and a half south of Washington. A full-time minister was hired, who would also serve as the school teacher for economic reasons. The members approved for a minister from the Evangelical Synod of America and, in 1890, Rev. David Buchmueller arrived to work as pastor and school teacher. The church as officially organized in October 1890 and named Friedens Evangelical Church. Members not of German heritage misunderstood the name, and the deed named it the German Evangelical Freemans Church. The church building was little more than a shell, without a ceiling or interior furnishings. During the tenure of Rev. Tesch, the church added a steeple and 16 ft. addition. The church was incorporated in 1899, and in 1904, the church was separated from the school. In 1911, a new church was built along with a Browns Prairie School building thus forever separating the church and school. Originally held in German, with one English service a month beginning in 1922, church services gradually transitioned to English by 1960. The church name was changed to Friedens United Church of Christ until 1995, when it was renamed Friedens Church of Washington, UCC. This historic church is a reminder of the area's German heritage and legacy. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Star of the Republic Museum — 2.6 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 2.7 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Navasota — 8.4 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 11 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.

More markers nearby

• Barrington Plantation — 2.6 mi
• George Campbell Childress Statue — 2.6 mi
• Andrew Robinson Sr. — 2.6 mi
• Asa Brigham — 2.7 mi