Taylor Brethren Church

The Unity of the Brethren's emblem sets an open Bible before a cross, with a chalice at the left. The church says the chalice recalls the insistence of Jan Hus and the early Brethren on receiving wine as well as bread at communion. According to Wikipedia, Texas Czech Protestants who did not join Presbyterian congregations formed their own body, and representatives met in 1903 to organize the Evangelical Unity of the Bohemian-Moravian Brethren in North America. Most churches moved to English by the 1940s, and the Unity of the Brethren name dates from 1959.

What the plaque says

Taylor Brethren Church During the 1880s, many Czech Protestant immigrants who settled in the Taylor area were members of the Unity of the Brethren, founded in 1457 by followers of the Czech reformer and martyr Jan Hus. These local Brethren found it difficult to worship in area Protestant churches because of the language barrier -- most conducted services in German or English. As a result, the Czech immigrants joined together to revive practices of the Unity of the Brethren and worship in their native language. The Rev. Henry Juren of Fayetteville held Taylor's first Czech Protestant service in 1892. As more Czech Protestant immigrants arrived in central Texas, more Brethren groups formed, served by traveling ministers. Among those was the Taylor Brethren Church, formally organized in 1895. The Rev. Antonin Motycka became the church's first pastor. Three years later, the Brethren church began using space in the West Taylor Lutheran Church building at this site. In June 1902, the Brethren congregation purchased the property. The church continued holding worship services in the Czech language until 1967. Today, the congregation recognizes its rich ethnic history, but it is now a diverse body whose members reflect many backgrounds and traditions. Taylor Brethren Church has played a vital role in the cultural heritage of the community it serves. Throughout the congregation's long history members have continued to worship at this site and to follow the Protestant emphasis and doctrines established by its founders, who came to Texas seeking religious freedom and independence. (2005)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 15 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 — 16 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 — 16 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.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 27 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• Birthplace of Governor Dan Moody — 1.0 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Taylor — 1.1 mi
• City of Taylor — 1.2 mi
• Bill Pickett — 1.2 mi