This is the site of Bethany Lutheran Church of Green’s Creek, Texas.
Bethany was located a few miles south of US 290 east of Giddings. Back in the late nineteenth century, the very energetic Rev. Gottfried Buchschacher of Warda began preaching nearby, and a congregation was established in 1895.
The congregation doesn’t seem to have ever really thrived, perhaps partly due to being established notlong before the dawn of the automobile age. Bethany’s last pastor was the Rev. Theodore Kilian, who served from 1918 until his death in 1925.
Information about the final years of Bethany is scarce, and in conflict as well. Robert J. Koenig’s “Pause to Ponder” states that the congregation disbanded in the 1940s, and the volume on Lee County history that I was reading on Saturday indicates a similar date. The historical marker shown in the photo says the building was razed in 1964. And, the library at the Wendish Heritage Museum has copies of the congregation’s records, which clearly show confirmations through 1963.
My guess is that the congregation disbanded in 1964 and the building was demolished that same year, and perhaps the information in Koenig’s book and the Lee County volume are due to transposing the final two numbers in the date and coming up with 1946.
If you or anyone you know were members at Bethany Green’s Creek, I’d love to hear from you, get some clarity around things and hear more about the history of the congregation!
I know for a fact that the congregation used the church either in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s and I went to the wedding of a son of the man that my dad worked for. The young man that got married there was a Namken boy and his dad was Rudy Namken that was part owner of Namken’s Furniture Store. I was born in 1945 but remember going to the wedding with my dad, mom and sister vividly.