In 1870, Taylor was not on the map, and when the first railroad was built through the area, the land was considered of little value and was used only as grazing-land for cattle. This land could then be bought for $1.00 to $5.00 per acre. The land northeast of Taylor was an open blackland prairie owned by wealthy landowners, such as Hoxie, Stiles, Burkitt and Murphy. The Hoxie Ranch alone was 11,000 acres.
In the late
1880's, these big
landowners began dividing their large holdings into smaller tracts and
sold them to settlers of Swiss and German descent. Today you'll find in our area the
communities of Waterloo, Hoxie, Wuthrich Hill, New Bern and Sandoval that were formed back then.
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Wuthrich Family Left to right, top row: John, Mary, Paul, Martha, Ernest, Sophia. Left to right, bottom row: Gottfried, Emma, Mathias, Verena, Louise.
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Around 1890, the faith and traditions of the Lutheran church were a focal point for these new families. However, Immanuel Lutheran Church, founded in 1888, was the only Lutheran church in the Taylor area, and was located on the opposite side of town. The German and Swiss settlers of New Bern, Sandoval and Wuthrich Hill began thinking of their own schools and churches for their families.
In 1891, G. Burkitt offered about 2.5 acres of land to the community, and Daniel Murphy also agreed to give about 2.5 acres of land south of the Burkitt offer. After the men from Wuthrich Hill, New Bern and Sandoval communities negotiated together, and no agreement was made, the men from New Bern and Sandoval decided to accept the Murphy offer together and began to organized their St. John Lutheran Church.
In 1894, Henry Priesmeyer, Sr., C.G. Wuthrich, John Stoll and A. Stoll formed the Evangelical Church and School Association of Wuthrich Hill, and purchased two acres of land from Mathis Wuthrich for twenty two dollars. With the coming of other settlers from the Old Washington and Austin communities additional support for these projects was received.
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On December 22, 1894, at a meeting held in the Turkey Creek School, Henry Priesmeyer, W. Meyer, Henry Schwenker, Fritz Meiske, Augustus Braker, H. Heselmeyer, C. Wuthrich, A. Stoll and John Stoll organize a new congregation known as St. James Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Wuthrich Hill, and in short order, an application for membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas, a branch of the Iowa Synod, was made.
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The Swiss flag, in this Turkey Creek School photo, is displayed left of the United States flag. The Turkey Creek School was located on CR-417, just south of our cemetery.
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Pastor Letterman of Pflugerville supplied the fledging congregation with a constitution for examination. This constitution was adopted on January 13, 1895. The first councilmen, W. Meyer, Henry Priesmeyer and A. Stoll, were also elected at this time.
Pastor J. Appel of McDade traveled 34 miles to conduct the first service on March 31, 1895, at the Turkey Creek School. He continued to conduct services once a month and was paid $5.00 for his services.
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