Rabke & Brother's Chapel
|
Cuero Area United Methodist
Churches Rabke & Brother's Chapel |
|
|
RABKE COMMUNITY When four well-educated german families settled on Five Mile Creek in 1849, the community was called Latiner for their knowledge of Latin. Capt. Robert Kleberg (1803-88), Battle of San Jacinto Veteran, was one early resident. In the 1880s, the German settlement of Rabke grew up nearby. Edward Rabke's store housed the Post Office, 1898-1905, and Woodmen of the World Lodge. Local children attended Five Mile school, which moved to the Ratcliffe farm in 1921. Except for Rabke Methodist Church, the early community landmarks have disappeared. (1985) |
 |
Rabke United Methodist Church was built in 1894. Members still meet on the second Sunday of the month to worship. With a wood burning stove for the winter and open windows during the summer, Rabke brings worshipers back to a simpler time including the out house in the back. Rabke and Cuero First United Methodist Church form a two point charge. Rabke is the site of the Easter Morning Sunrise Service.
Brother's Chapel
The original wooden frame of Brother's Chapel was built in 1892. After the Civil
War, separate annual conferences for African Americans were formed in the
Methodist Episcopal Church. "By 1895 there were no racially mixed conferences
left in the M.E. Church." (The Story of American Methodism by
Fredrick A. Norwood, Abingdon Press: Nashville 1974, p.272) Brother's
Chapel was part of the West Texas (C.J.) Conference which was formed on
January 7, 1874. During its long history, Brother's Chapel once served as the
location for a meeting of the Annual Conference of the M.E. West Texas Conference. Even with the brick exterior, which was added to Brother's Chapel, the church and the parsonage could not withstand the damage to its foundation caused by the flood of October 1998. On August 4, 1999,
Brother's Chapel was put to rest.
 |
 |
 |
 |