Berlin, Texas. (original) (raw)

Eben-Ezer Evangelical Lutheran Church and cemetery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2006

History in a Pecan ShellBerlin was a German settlement that had its beginnings in the late 1840s when Valentin Hoffmann bought a plot of land here. Hoffman, had emigrated from Germany two years previously. Hoffman had 3 of his sons serve in the Confederate Army and after the war, two of them open a cotton gin / gristmill here.

The Reverend Johann G. Ebinger, held the first Luteran services in W

ashington County on Christmas Eve, 1854.

In 1849 Ludwig Lehmann donated land for a permanent church and school. The first log church was erected in the mid 1850s, followed by a simple frame building. A more substantial church was finished in 1880. The community was scattered around a common school and remained so until it merged with the Brenham ISD in the mid 1950s.

Due to the proximity to Brenham, population figures were included with that town. Today Berlin consists of the church, parsonage, and cemetery. The nearby communities of Mill Creek and Zionsville share a fire department, and the fire building is used for homecomings and community meetings.

A historical marker for Eben-Ezer Lutheran Church was erected in the mid 1970s.

Historical Marker:

Eben-Ezer Evangelical Lutheran Church

Spiritual center of the Berlin community, which was settled by Germans in 1847. On a missionary visit, Dec. 24, 1854, The Rev. Johann Ebinger (1828-1908) of Harris County held earliest Lutheran service in Washington County. On July 1, 1855, he founded Eben-Ezer Church with William C. Bohne, F. H. Ehlert, F. F. Spreen and others as trustees. Ludwig C. Lehmann (1794-1855) donated 11-acre church site. Landowners gave post oak logs, renters gave labor for building first church, incorporating a parsonage. The early pastors taught school in that first church building.

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