One of the 15 Painted Churches of Texas, known for their fanciful architecture and showy interiors, it joins them on the National Register of Historic Places.

A tornado damaged the original structure, built in 1891, and the church was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1921. Artist Edmond Fatjo, who was trained at the Royal Art Academy in Berlin, painted its exquisite murals in 1945.
 

The mural depicting Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane enhances Knippinberg’s messages and homilies to his parish. “It’s certainly something to which we can always make reference,” he says. “In a rural community that's always struggling with weather, sufferings of life, when you look out in the assembly and can pick out the parishioner who's husband just died or has a handicapped child, you can make the visual reference to the God who willingly suffered with us, so as to provide us with a means by which we can be saved from the suffering.

“In some ways, that's the real treasure. It's not the building, but the hearts and souls of the people that the building only represents,” says Knippinberg.

This 1921 church, with Romanesque Revival-style architecture, fine murals and elaborate decorative details, stands as one of Texas’ most prized landmarks.