Vereins-Kirche

Market Square, Fredericksburg, Texas

The original Vereins-Kirche (Vereinskirche, or "Union Church,") was one of the first buildings in Fredericksburg, built in 1847 in the very center of Main Street. It served as a community hall, school house, church and, occasionally, a fort.

The settlers of Fredericksburg were determined not to give up their religious faiths and they were equally determined to see that their children were educated. Accordingly, one of the first buildings that the pioneers constructed in Fredericksburg was the Vereins-Kirche (Vereinskirche, or "Union Church"). It was built in the summer of 1847 after the Comanche peace treaty made by John O. Meusebach, who was commissioner for the German Emigration Company.

The laying of the cornerstone in 1847, one month after the famous peace treaty between Meusebach and the Indians, was a great event. The Indians had been promised presents on the next full moon, and they arrived that day in Fredericksburg in their best and most colorful attire. The peaceful mingling of the settlers and the Indians on that memorable occasion probably did much to solidify the peace treaty and make it one of the most famous and binding treaties in American History between settlers and the Indians.

All denominations worshiped in the Vereins Kirche, each at their appointed time. Fredericksburg's Lutherans, whose services were led by the Rev. F. Basse and subsequently by the Rev. Gottlieb Burchard Dangers, met in the Vereins-Kirche until 1886; the town's Catholics, whose first services were led by Johann Leyendecker, used the building until 1848, when they built their own church. The Methodist congregation, organized in 1849, met in the Vereins-Kirche until 1855, and the orthodox Lutheran congregation, organized in 1850, used the building until 1853.

The Vereins-Kirche was also used as Fredericksburg's first school, established under Leyendecker in 1847. Children were educated there and given oral examinations in front of the townspeople. The bell was rung to summon citizens to community events, which were important sources of entertainment.

The original structure was affectionately called “Die Kaffee-Muehle” (the coffee mill), because of its appearance and its octagonal shape. It was designed by a Dr. Schubert, an Adelsverein membe, and modeled on an ancient German style known as the "Carolingian octagon," exemplified by the original portion of the cathedral of Charlemagne at Aachen. Each side of the Vereins-Kirche was eighteen feet long and eighteen feet high; an octagonal roof rose ten feet above the sides and formed the base of an octagonal cupola with ten-foot-square sides. The cupola was crowned by an octagonal roof about seven feet high; the original weather vane, in the shape of a rooster, was destroyed by lightning in 1862 and replaced with a cross.

The original Vereins-Kirche was located in very center of Main Street between the courthouse and Market Square. It was octagonal in shape so that the people inside could see the Indians no matter which direction they used to approach the building. During the fifty years that is was in use, it served as a community hall, schoolhouse, church and, occasionally, a fort.

The Vereins-Kirche had two doors. Men would enter the south door and sit on the right side of the aisle. Women would enter through the north door and sit on the left side of the aisle. The original floor was sand and the benches were backless. Later the sand floor was replaced with one made of flagstones.

The Vereins-Kirche was used until it was razed after the 1896 celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers, because a petition had been circulated and presented to the commissioner’s court claiming that the building was “unsafe.” The building had fallen into disuse and disrepair and was regarded as an obstruction to traffic on Main Street.

When the Gillespie County Historical Society was formed in 1934, its first goal was the construction of a replica of the old Vereins-Kirche, with the assistance of the Civil Works Administration, to be completed in time for the Texas Centennial celebration in 1936. The replica used the original cornerstone and is designed like the old Vereins-Kirche, though its walls are stone instead of half-timbered Fachwerk, the artistic carpentry of the original church. Lee Kiehne was the architect, and used the same dimensions as the original building. The new building was constructed 300 feet north of its original location, in the center of Marktplatz (the Market Square). The new building was finished in time for the state Centennial celebration in 1936. The replica has only one door, because in later years the north door had been replaced by a window. The original cornerstone, as well as a new one, was placed in the replica. A polished rock plaque, made from specimens of rock found in Gillespie County was placed in the center of the floor. This plaque is the only deviation from the original building.

The replica of the Vereins-Kirche was originally used as a museum and library. It is now houses the archives for the Gillespie County Historical Society.

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REFERENCES

· Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools, Inc., Vereinskirche, http://www.historicschools.org/

· Fredericksburg Texas Info, Walking tour of Fredericksburg - Vereinskirche, http://fredericskburgtexas.blogspot.com/2006/09/walking-tour-of-fredericksburg.html.

· Tom Prather, Vereinskirche - Fredricksburg, Gillespie County, http://www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/wtw/ex082_36.html.

· Texas Co-Op Power, A reconstruction of Vereinskirche, the first church built n Fredericksburg, http://www.texas-ec.org/publications/texascooppower/documents/TCP_Apr05_000.pdf, April 2005.

· Gillespie County Chamber of Commerce Brochure, Gillespie County And Fredericksburg, Texas, 1981.

· Martin Donell Kohout, Handbook of Texas Online, Vereins-Kirche, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/VV/ccv1.html, Sunday House Inn and Suites, Fredericksburg, Texas, Vereins Kirche (Community Church), http://www.sundayhouseinn.com/Churches/vereins_kirche.htm

Compiled from various sources by

Joe Cooper

Kendall County, Texas

Created: August 2, 2009

Updated: August 16, 2010