Runnels County Register"The St. Boniface Catholic Church at Olfen will be hosting the annual Fall Festival Sunday, October 9 at the parish hall in Olfen. This year’s theme is “Celebrating 115 Years with St. Boniface Church and Olfen School.”
The St. Boniface Parish is in the Diocese of San Angelo under the direction of Bishop Michael Sis. 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.
According to the Handbook of Texas, Olfen, 10 miles north of the confluence of the Colorado and Concho rivers in Runnels County, is a German Catholic community. In the early 1890s German Catholics who had immigrated to Colorado, Fayette, and other counties in Southeast Texas from 1846 to 1890 looked toward West Texas for farmland, a healthy climate, and a place to establish a Catholic environment.
By the 1890s the railroad had built as far as Ballinger on the Colorado River. Bernard Matthiesen, from Ellinger in Fayette County, went by train to Ballinger in June 1891 and again in October 1891 by horse and wagon to look for farmland. In 1893 he 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. The first mass in the church-school was the wedding mass of Bernard Niehues and Amalia Matthiesen.
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.
The Olfen public school sits adjacent to the church and enrolls children through the 8th grade. School class pictures dating many, many years back line the hallways of the school.
In the first festivals which started back in the 1920's, the construction of the new St. Boniface Church was under way and the festival was thought to be held to raise funds for the completion of the church. Since there was no cafeteria hall for the meals, the Olfen school building was used. Next to the school building a large tent was erected and tables and chairs were set up for the noon meal. Cotton bales were auctioned off the back of a pick-up truck.
On Oct. 9, visitors can enjoy a traditional lunch meal of homemade German sausage, turkey and dressing which will be served from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Dine-in, take-out and drive through plates-to-go will be available. Adult plates and all plates-to-go are
$10 and children under 10 years are $5.
Each year, the men of the parish make thousands of pounds of raw sausage which is for sale for $5 per pound, Pre-orders for raw sausage are recommended and can be mailed to St. Boniface Sausage Sales at 1829 FM 584, San Angelo, TX 76904.
Other activities for the day include games and concessions starting at 12 noon, a live auction at 1 p.m., candy drop at 3 p.m. homemade food and items for sale at the fancy stand, quilt raffle and sausage sandwiches will be sold in the afternoon. Handicap parking and shuttle bus will be available. Drive through plates-to-go will need to enter Olfen from the west off of FM 1678 on to County Road 234 and dine-in and walk up plates-to-go can enter Olfen from the north on FM 1874."
Come out to the country and celebrate the wonderful history of this church and school! For more information contact the parish office at 325-442-2893."