Trinity Lutheran Church - Victoria, Texas
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 28° 47.894 W 097° 00.181
14R E 694903 N 3187268
After independence from Mexico, German immigrants flooded into the Republic of Texas. Many of the immigrants settled in towns along the Guadalupe River, including Victoria. Here they built this church.
Waymark Code: WM1FNQ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2007
Views: 11
Twenty nine German noblemen organized the ‘Verein,’ or the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, in 1842. The Verein encouraged the German middle-classes to settle in the newly-formed Republic of Texas. They built a landing for German ships at Indian Point (Indianola) on Lavaca Bay, some thirty miles south of Victoria.
The Verein purchased land in central Texas for settlement. German immigrants would arrive at Indian Point, follow a path parallel to the Guadalupe River though Victoria, Seguin and New Braunfels, then head overland to their settlements. By 1846, over 7000 Germans had arrived at Indian Point. The journey to the German ‘Colony’ was long and hard. Since the towns along the path were hospitable to the German immigrants, a sizable number of them settled those towns. By 1858, over half of Victoria’s 1500 residents were Germans.
Germans in Victoria organized a mission, the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, in 1851. The first church was constructed in 1853, and a replacement in 1868. In 1908, local architect James Hull was hired, and this Gothic Revival Lutheran Church was built. Services continued to be held in German until 1914.
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