St. John Lutheran — Westhoff

St. John Lutheran Church was founded on March 29, 1908 in Westhoff by five members and the Rev. J.F. Christiansen. The birthplace of the church — and its first services — was a dance hall. Other early services were held in saloons and under an oak tree.

Without a cent in hand, the little congregation resolved to build a simple church, and a four-board-walled sanctuary was dedicated that November. The tower and bell followed in 1914, and by 1916 the interior was finished along with a sixteen-foot addition. Through fires, droughts, and changing times, the congregation on Cook Avenue has never stopped gathering.

Westhoff itself grew up alongside the railroad that came through from Cuero in 1906, and St. John remains one of the town’s enduring landmarks on U.S. Highway 87, fourteen miles from Cuero in far northwestern DeWitt County.