Swedish Free Mission Church

Swedes first came to Texas in 1848, when Swante M. Swenson brought twenty-five relatives and neighbors from Barkeryd parish in Smaland, at Sam Houston's urging. The census found 364 Swedes in Texas in 1880 and 4,344 in 1900, and immigration from Sweden had nearly stopped by 1910. Many others came from Illinois and the north central states between 1870 and 1900. By the 1940s Swedes and their descendants were concentrated around Stamford, Lyford, Melvin, Brady, Fort Worth, Dallas and Waco. Their newspaper Texas-Posten ran in Austin from 1896 to 1982.

What the plaque says

Swedish Free Mission Church Swedes began settling in the western part of McCulloch County in 1907. A Sunday school was begun that year, and the families met for worship in homes. A church congregation was formally organized in 1910 with fifteen charter members. A Ladies Aid Society was formed in 1911. By 1913 a church building had been completed. Worship services were conducted in the Swedish language until the 1940s. The congregation's name was changed to the Evangelical Free Church in the 1940s. From its beginnings the congregation has supported missionary activities. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Presidio de San Saba — 23 mi
  The ruins of the largest Spanish presidio in Texas, built in 1757 to guard a mission to the Lipan Apache, where the Comanche and their allies first turned back Spain's frontier.

More markers nearby

• Western Trail — 13 mi
• McCulloch County — 15 mi
• General Ben McCulloch, C.S.A. — 15 mi
• Curtis Airfield — 16 mi