Greenvine Baptist Church

Greenvine sits on Farm Road 2502 near Pond Creek, five miles southeast of Burton. The Handbook of Texas ties its start to a revival: J. Frank Kiefer, a German Baptist evangelist, preached here in 1860, and the church organized in 1861 is counted the first German Baptist church in Texas. The village grew after nearby Vinegrove declined, had its own post office from 1879 to 1907, and by 1882 was predominantly German with an Anglo minority. Emmanuel Lutheran organized in 1884, and the Handbook says the Baptist and Lutheran churches sustained the community into the 1980s.

What the plaque says

Greenvine Baptist Church Ebenezer German Baptist Church was organized in 1861 following a revival preached by Frank Kiefer (1833-1909), a German immigrant and convert to the Baptist faith. Commonly known as Greenvine Baptist Church, the congregation first met in a log cabin owned by Michael Möller. The Rev. F. J. Gleiss (1826-1912), a former Methodist minister and fellow German immigrant, succeeded Kiefer as pastor in 1868. This site was purchased in 1870, and a sanctuary was built in 1879. Services were conducted in the German language until replaced by English in 1947. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Round Top and Festival Hill — 8.9 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 15 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 19 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.
• Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites — 24 mi
  A shared tomb on the Colorado River bluff for the men of the Dawson fight and the black bean lottery, beside the ruins of a German stonemason's spring-fed brewery.

More markers nearby

• Bednar Family Homestead — 4.1 mi
• Site of Wesley School — 4.5 mi
• McGregor Cemetery (Scottish Presbyterian Cemetery) — 4.7 mi
• Burton State Bank — 5.2 mi