The beginning of Rhineland and St. Josephs was in 1895 when Father Reisdorff and Hugo Herchenbach contracted to purchase a tract of land from J.C. League and George E. Mann of Galveston, TX for the purpose of a colony. In 1927 the original church suffered a fire and was partially destroyed.

Plans were started for the new structure were began. The building was designed by Rev. Boniface Spanke, O.S.B and is German-Gothic architecture. Work on the building was done by the parishioners. Much of the materials was donated. The building contains more than 80,000 handmade brick made in a small hand-operated machine that only made six bricks at a time.

There is a beautiful Gothic alter which was hand carved by the Grier brothers, two German carpenters during the winter of 1900. While the building was begun in 1927, due to the depression and World War II, it was not completed until 1951.