St. John's United Methodist Church

A Georgetown guidebook excerpt gives the 1906 sanctuary an architect and builders: C. H. Page designed the Gothic Revival limestone church, and Swedish carpenters built it under the contractor Belford. The congregation's own history says the first sixteen pastors were Swedish and that Swedish was used until the late 1940s. A cemetery marker adds that Pastor C. C. Charmqust and local residents set up a church and burial ground south of town in the early 1880s, with the earliest known burial an infant in 1881.

What the plaque says

St. John's United Methodist Church As early as 1871, pioneer Swedish settlers near Union Hill (4 mi. S), also known as the Brushy area, were holding Methodist worship services in homes. In 1882, they formally organized as a Swedish Methodist Episcopal church. The congregation moved to this site in 1906, when the present native stone sanctuary was completed. The name St. John's was adopted in 1939, and regular Swedish language services ended in the 1940s. Church programs, however, continue to reflect the ideals, traditions and rich heritage of the pioneer founders. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 0.3 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Inner Space Cavern — 1.9 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 8.4 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.
• Mount Bonnell — 22 mi
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.

More markers nearby

• Negro Fine Arts School — steps away
• Jessie Daniel Ames — steps away
• Original Site of Southwestern University — steps away
• Founding of Georgetown — steps away