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West Brethren Church

901 North Marable Street
254-826-3146

Since the arrival of the first Czech Protestants in Texas in 1849, the influence of the Protestant denominations among settlers spread. The arrival of Pastor Josef Bergman in the area of the Stephen F. Austin grant in Austin County, and his subsequent letters to friends back in Bohemia and Moravia, heralded the introduction of many European settlers into the Texas and Oklahoma area.  Emigrants continued to come from Bohemia and Moravia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, seeking freedom from political, religious, and class oppression.  All hoped for a better life, and most settled in areas with high-quality soil, since they came from rural villages with a farming lifestyle.

The earliest Czech-Moravian Brethren settlers came to the West, McLennan County, area in 1875.  The Josef Masek and John Foit families arrived, then were joined by others.  These, the earliest of Czech-Moravian immigrants, attended St. Peter’s Evangelical Church, founded and attended by German settlers.

Rev. Henry Juren was the first minister to conduct Czech services in the area.  It was at this first service held in 1888 that the late Rev. H. E. Beseda, Sr. was baptized as an infant.  Rev. Adolph Chlumsky was the organizing pastor on June 5, 1892, making the trip from his farm in Brenham by railroad until 1908. Worship services were held 6 times a year.  Other early ministers were Vaclav Pazdral, F.G. Kupec, Joseph Hegar, Anton Motycka, and F.J. Kostohryz. 

In 1895 three acres of land were purchased east of the town of West and a church was constructed, with an initial cost of $1,000.00, and most of the work was donated.  The building was dedicated on September 10, 1896.  This building was severely damaged by a windstorm in 1919, dismantled, and rebuilt in 1920, and used until July 17, 1956, when it was dismantled and used in the building of a new structure. 

There were about 50 communicant members in 1900.  Among them were family names such as Foit, Beseda, Kudelka, Svacek, Janek, Barton, Hegar, and Adam.

A parsonage was built next to the church in 1910.  In 1903 the congregation sent delegates to the meeting held in Granger of similar congregations all over Texas.  The resulting organization became the denomination known as The Evangelical Unity of the Czech Moravian Brethren.  A tract of land located three miles west of West was donated to the church in 1908 by Mrs. Anna Urbanovsky to serve as a cemetery.


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