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Old
D'Hanis St. Dominic Catholic Church
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2005 |
The
old D’Hanis Cemetery and the ruins of St. Dominic Church are worthy
of a stop for anyone traveling US 90. They are just east of the high
school, a quarter of a mile south of highway 90.
History in a Pecan Shell
Also known as New D'Hanis, the designation doesn’t mean as
much to travelers as it does to local residents. “Old” D’Hanis
which is just over a mile east of what travelers today regard as D’Hanis.
The colony was Henri Castro’s third settlement in Texas and was named
to honor his European agent, William D'Hanis.
When it was formed in 1847, twenty-nine Alsatian families formed the
nucleus of the town. Each family was given a twenty-acre farm and
a town lot. In 1850 the entire town was a mere twenty buildings and
when compared to safe and secure Castroville,
D’Hanis was a primitive and crude outpost. Two years after the settlers
arrived, Fort Lincoln was established to protect them from
frequent Indian raids. Several tombstones in the old cemetery testify
to the violence. |
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The
ruins showing the Old D'Hanis Cemetery and the northern wall of St.
Dominic Church
Photo by John Troesser, May 2004 |
A
post office was granted in 1854. The town became a stage stop along
the San Antonio-Rio Grande road and St. Dominic Church was formed
in 1847. The church building was abandoned in 1914 when the congregation
moved to New D’Hanis. The sandstone arches that form the ruin seen
today are from the original construction of 1853. Other stones are
from an 1869 extension.
The Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway built through Medina
County in 1881 and bypassed the town creating “New” D’Hanis (a mile
and a fraction west) in the process.
D’Hanis endured floods in 1894, 1919, and 1935.
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D'Hanis
water tower and Koch Hotel across the tracks from Hwy 90
Photo by John Troesser, June 2003 |
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Brick kiln and chimney
Photo by John Troesser, June 2003 |
The
kilns of the D'Hanis Brick and Tile Company (founded 1883) are featured
in T. Lindsay Baker’s excellent Building the Lone Star – a
book on civil engineering marvels around Texas. Seco Pressed Brick,
which opened in 1910, became D’Hanis’ second brick manufacturing company.
D'Hanis had a weekly newspaper from 1908 until 1923.
Our Lady Queen of Peace, was built in 1924 for the town’s Mexican-American
congregation.
The population of the town has never exceeded 600 people.
San
Antonio Hotels >
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Your Hotel Here & Save
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Northern
wall wall of St. Dominic Church seen from the south
Photo by John Troesser, May 2004 |
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The
ruined back arch
Photo by John Troesser, May 2004 |
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The
upper front facade
Photo by John Troesser, May 2004 |
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THC
Marker in front of St. Dominic Church
Photo by John Troesser, May 2004 |
The
old D’Hanis Cemetery and
the ruins of St. Dominic Church are worthy of a stop for anyone traveling
US 90. They are just east of the high school, a quarter of a mile
south of highway 90.
The townspeople stopped using the cemetery in 1893 due to a Diphtheria
epidemic, but the old-world artistic inscriptions and the wrought-iron
markers make the Old D’Hanis Cemetery one of the most interesting
in Texas. See Old D'Hanis
Cemetery >
© John
Troesser |
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