MCMXXII - St. Boniface Church - Olfen, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 36.572 W 099° 57.640
14R E 408875 N 3497557
Lovely red brick church setting next to a school. Cemetery is just down the road.
Waymark Code: WM102HH
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/12/2019
Views: 1
Runnels County Register"The church was originally built in 1901 after the first settlers arrived in the later 1890s and constructed a church and school combination building to meet the religious needs of the people and to educate their children.
In 1893 Bernard Matthiesen bought land and moved his wife Elizabeth (Hoelscher) and family to what is now Olfen. In 1901 Matthiesen and Willy Glass wrote to Bishop John Anthony Forest in San Antonio and obtained permission to build a school, to be used also as a church. Father Frank Maas was the first pastor. The community was first called Fussy Creek, then Maas, and finally Olfen, after Olfen in Westphalia.
As more settlers arrived, a larger church was erected in 1910 under the pastorate of Rev. Frank Garmann. In January 1922 after Sunday afternoon services the church burned to the ground. All that was left was the large bell from the bell tower which now sits in front of the present day church. By November of the same year, a larger brick church was built and was dedicated by Bishop Arthur Drossaerts, Bishop of San Antonio."
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