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Settlement of this area of Lavaca County began in the 1850s, when a group of about thirty families relocated here from Mississippi. The settlers named their new community Shiloh in honor of the church they had left in Mississippi. The majority of the new settlers were Methodists, and they soon built a combination church and school building. A group of German settlers, mostly of the Lutheran faith, began arriving in the 1880s. They shared worship space with the Methodists for a number of years, and in 1901 formally organized St. John Lutheran Church. Shiloh's St. John Lutheran Church merged with another Lutheran congregation in nearby Mixon Creek in 1922. Services continued in a new church building one mile west of this site. A community school was in operation in Shiloh from the 1850s until 1952, when students transferred to nearby Hallettsville. Local residents purchased the former schoolhouse in 1955 and converted it for community use, including memorial services, funerals, family gatherings, voting site, and other community activities. Together with the local Methodist and Lutheran cemeteries, it serves as a reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. |
