Painted Church in High Hill, TX

The church was established in 1860. The first church service was held in High Hill by Rev. Victor Gury of Fredericksburg in 1861. At the beginning, the mass was celebrated in the log cabin which belonged to Mr. Andreas Bilimek and then at Franz Wick's place. Later, in 1870, the first church log building was completed and blessed. 

 

Soon after that, in 1875, a new wooden church was built and primary the log building was used as a school (on weekdays only) for 55 years.

Father Gerlach, who came to High Hill in 1899, was the first parish priest there.

The local community grew and needed a bigger church, so in 1905 the plans for a new stone church building were created by Leo MJ Dielmann, an architect of San Antonio. Starting in 1906, when the first brick of the new structure was blessed, all the people of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish worked on the construction of their new church. Their efforts resulted in completing the place in 1910.

The original stained glass windows were transferred from the old church and installed in the new building.

The church pillars are painted so craftfully - looking at them you may think, the pillars are made of marble, however, it is just wood covered with paint.

That was the second "painted church" that we visited during our August day trip. In the short video you can see the beautifully decorated ceiling and a few other elements of the church decorations.

  

You can see few more photos from the church on our FB page.