Palm Valley Lutheran Church celebrates its 145th anniversary
In a city of many churches, Palm Valley Lutheran Church holds the distinction of being the oldest in Round Rock, with a history that reaches back to the 1850s and a 119-year-old sanctuary that is still filled with the faithful every Sunday.
Though the sense of history is palpable at the church, with its old wooden pews and a cemetery with grave markers from the 1800s, this is a growing, vibrant church moving into the future with many young families and children, as well as older congregants. On Sunday mornings, four worship services are held at different times to accommodate the many worshippers.
Palm Valley Lutheran was formally founded in November 1870 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Brushy Church, though its founding congregants had been worshipping together for many years beforehand. The church recently held its 145th anniversary celebration.
“It’s been a great 145 years, but the best years are still ahead of us,” said David Koppel, Palm Valley Lutheran’s senior pastor.
The 350-seat sanctuary, dedicated in 1896, is a Texas historic landmark. Sunday worship services are held in the sanctuary and also in the new, larger Christian Life Center.
The church, marked by a 96-foottall steeple, sits on a pretty site with mature trees and a cemetery. The early graves bear the names of some the church’s founding families who were from Sweden. The markers give not just the important dates of birth and death, but also the dates the individuals arrived in America.
Church services were held in Swedish until 1928, when English was added. The Swedish-language services ended in 1941. Today the church holds one of its Sunday services in Spanish.
The church on Palm Valley Boulevard has grown from 150 members in 1870 to more than 1,000 members today. Descendants of the church’s founding families count among its current congregation.
“I feel the history,” said church member Carlton Sands of Pflugerville. But it wasn’t the church’s history that drew her to join.
“It’s a very friendly church. It’s very loving. It shows what it is to love God,” she said.
According to a history of the church compiled by Palm Valley Lutheran, in the early 1850s Swedish immigrants settled an area east of present day Round Rock — that was then called Brushy — and came together to worship.
When Anna Palm’s youngest son died in 1863, she asked a prominent Swede and landowner in Williamson County to set aside land for a cemetery, with significant more land later donated for a church and school.
After the Civil War, many Swedes came to Central Texas. The Lutheran Church of Sweden sent a pastor to lead the Swedish congregations in Austin and Round Rock, leading to the founding in 1870 of what is Palm Valley Lutheran Church today.
In 1872 a wood-frame church was built to replace the log cabin church where members would meet. In 1896, the church completed construction of its red brick sanctuary used today. In 1936, the church changed its name from Swedish Evangelical Lutheran to Palm Valley Lutheran.
The historic church is located on a large site with plenty of room for future building needs. The church’s master plan calls for a new, larger sanctuary and other buildings, though the historically protected old sanctuary will remain.