St. Mary

History of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Pin Oak

St. Mary's traces its origins to the 1849 expansion of Adam Becker's farmhouse on the south side of Pin Oak Creek, which became the first place in the Pin Oak settlement where Mass was said by a visiting priest. On 27 February 1869 the heirs of Christian Brahm, Adam Pipp, Franz Meuth, Margaret Brahm and Eva Lange sold six acres east of Pin Oak Creek to Archbishop M. Dubis of Galveston, and the first church was built on that land the same year. That original structure was replaced by the present church in 1911.

Pin Oak's German Catholic Roots

The Pin Oak community was founded by German settlers, most of whom came from the Province of Westphalia — like many of the German Catholics who shaped central Texas in the 19th century. The surrounding community is now a ghost town, but the church and its cemetery remain a tangible link to those pioneer families and the Catholic faith they brought with them.

A Mission Parish Through the Decades

St. Mary's has never been a standalone parish; it has served as a mission to larger neighboring communities since the late 19th century. By 1889 it was a mission of Taylor; from 1892 it was attached to Saint Martin's in La Grange (now Sacred Heart Church); from February 1933 it was served by Rev. P. J. Keiffer of Saints Peter and Paul in Smithville; and from 1944 to the present it has been a mission of St. Margaret's in Giddings.

• 1889: mission of Taylor
• 1892: mission of Saint Martin's, La Grange — Rev. M. Heintzelman, first resident pastor; Mass once a month
• 1933: reassigned to Rev. P. J. Keiffer of Saints Peter and Paul, Smithville — Mass on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 10:00 a.m.
• 1944–present: mission of St. Margaret's, Giddings, Texas

St. Mary's Cemetery

The historic St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery sits on the parish grounds at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2104 and Circle Road, alongside the church. It is a lasting witness to the German Catholic families who settled Pin Oak in the mid-19th century and remains one of the few physical reminders of the original community.

Visiting & Location

The church is in rural Bastrop County at 732 FM 2104, Smithville, TX 78957 — about six miles northeast of Smithville, six miles northwest of Winchester, eight miles south of Paige, and roughly 45 miles southeast of Austin. Because the mission is served from St. Margaret's in Giddings, the same parish phone number — (979) 542-0217 — connects visitors to the office that cares for St. Mary's.

• Address: 732 FM 2104, Smithville, TX 78957
• Diocese: Austin
• Parent parish: St. Margaret Catholic Church, Giddings, TX
• Parish phone: (979) 542-0217