View photo gallery

The descendants of the immigrant founders of St. John’s United Church of Christ and their friends will gather Sunday to commemorate 125 years in Central Texas and its legacy as “the church at the rise in the road.”

St. John’s, located at 100 S. Robinson Drive, will welcome an estimated 200 guests to the 10:35 a.m. morning service. Following a catered luncheon, members will conduct a community Hymn Sing until the 2 p.m. celebration service with special guest speakers and choir selections.

“We have compiled a memory book that recognizes the founders of the church,” spokeswoman Barbara Forcher said.

The current pastor, the first woman in the pulpit, is the Rev. Toni Kracke.

St. John Church was established in 1884 as Evangelische St. Johannes, with seven emigre German families as its nucleus. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Staas and their nine children had come to the United States from Hunteburg in Hanover, Germany, and settled in the Robinson community in 1882. Their glowing reports of Lone Star State hospitality and prosperity sent back to Germany were enough enticement for more families to come to the area then known as Robinsonville.

The congregation, part of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, was organized in 1884 under the leadership of the Rev. Christian E. Schaer, pastor of Zion Evangelical Church in Waco, which was the first German Evangelical Church in Texas. Zion Church pastors served St. John’s from its founding until 1900. The name “German” was dropped from the synod title in 1927.

During the first six years after the organization of the congregation, services were held in Waco’s Presbyterian Church and in the homes of members. The first church building was constructed in 1889-90. The land cost $100, and the cost of construction was $754.80 (or more than $17,000 in today’s dollars).

The second church was constructed in 1906, according to plans and specifications furnished by architect Milton Scott of Waco.

The third and current church was built in 1952. The Rev. John Strauss, pastor when the first church was built, lived long enough to see the foundation of the third church poured. He died at age 99 in 1952.

By 1920, the German language services were augmented by an English one once each month. In 1939, it increased to two Sundays a month. By 1947, all regular Sunday services took place in English.

In 1934, the Evangelical denomination merged with the Reformed Church of America. That denomination merged in 1957 with the Congregation Christian denomination. The new group became the United Church of Christ.

The present St. John’s sits on a prominent hill in Robinson, with a congregation of about 100.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

757-5746