St. Paul Lutheran Church, School and Cemetery grew from the arrival of August Polnick and his family, who moved from Lee County to Thorndale in 1881 as the first recorded Germans and first Lutherans in the area. Their former pastor, G. Birkmann, made ministerial visits during the next five years, and a congregation gradually formed among Thorndale residents and Lutherans in the nearby Hochkirche (Noack) community. By 1890 the combined parish had 69 communicants and held services exclusively in German. Later that year, Karl Michalk donated ten acres for a church, school, and cemetery, and the church building was dedicated in 1891. The cemetery's first burial was the infant son of Ida Schultz in 1891. A.W. Kramer was called as the first full-time pastor in November 1893, arrived in March 1894, and also served as teacher for the school. As Thorndale's economy rose, Lutheran settlers continued to arrive, and membership increased from 208 in 1899 to 654 by 1911 and 830 in 1939. In 1900 the congregation moved into a new church building, and J. Jaeckel became the first full-time schoolteacher to improve the school and its facilities. Services began to be held in both English and German during World War I, and by 1952 only one German service was held each year. A tornado destroyed the church building beyond repair in July 1940, but a new one was erected later that year. Sunday School began in 1948, women became voting members of the congregation in the 1950s, and both the church and school remained active in community development at the close of the 20th century.