Bellville, Austin County
This congregation was organized in 1896 by seven Bellville families assisted by the Rev. O. W. Hartmann, a faculty member of the Evangelical Lutheran College in Brenham (1891-1906). Early worship services were held in the Methodist church building. The Lutheran congregation acquired one acre of land for a church at this site and completed a frame building with a steeple in November 1898. The Rev. P. Gogolin was called as the congregation's first full-time minister in 1899, and remained for two years. A hurricane reached Bellville in 1900, completely destroying the German Methodist Church, and blowing the Lutheran church from its foundation. The congregation repaired the damage to the church structure. For several years the church struggled with part time pastors and a small, inactive membership, until the arrival of Pastor Hans Krause in 1911. Under his leadership the Sunday School expanded, the Ladies Aid Society was reactivated, a parsonage was built, and the church membership more than doubled. The congregation grew steadily, building a brick sanctuary in 1925. The church continues to serve the needs of its membership and the community as it has for more than 100 years. (1996)