Grace Lutheran Church

Before the move south, the congregation's home stood at Hemphill and Broadway, and it took years to build. Swedish Lutherans signed their charter on November 6, 1905, at the Wells Mission Hall and bought the lot in 1906. Architect Conrad Hoeffler drew the plans, but money ran short and construction waited until 1912, with R. C. Sweeney as contractor. The brown brick church has a square front tower and arched stained-glass windows. Hemphill Street's widening in 1931 altered the front entry wing. The congregation sold the building in 1958, and it became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1984.

What the plaque says

Grace Lutheran Church This congregation was organized formally in 1905 to serve the Swedish-American Lutheran community in Fort Worth. The Rev. Theo Seashore served as first pastor. In 1912, during the pastorate of Dr. Martin Noyd, the congregation built a sanctuary at the corner of Hemphill and Broadway. Services were conducted in Swedish until 1918, when the members agreed to suspend use of the language for the duration of World War I. They continued this practice after the close of the war. Known until 1928 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, the congregation relocated to this site in 1957. (1984) supplemental: Congregation relocated to this site November 29, 1998 and dedicated to another 100 years of grace to the glory of God on November 6, 2005.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 8.0 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 8.4 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 9.3 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 11 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.

More markers nearby

• Crowley Cemetery — 3.3 mi
• Barron Field — 3.9 mi
• Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary — 4.2 mi
• Congregation Ahavath Sholom — 4.4 mi