| |
WINDTHORST,
TEXAS
On the Archer-Clay
County Line
Highway 25, 281 and FM 174
10 miles E of Archer
City
25 miles S of Wichita
Falls
Population:
440 (2000) 367 (1990)
|
|
|
|
St.
Mary's Catholic Church in Windthorst
January 2004 photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson |
History in
a Pecan shell
Windthorst, like several other north Texas communities was settled
by German Catholics who has transmigrated from the North. The namesake
was Ludwig Windthorst, a Catholic statesman back in the "Old Country."
St. Mary's Catholic Church was built on the hill, replacing an earlier
simple wooden cross. After burning and several reconstructions, the
church building still stands today. |
|
|
Another
view of the St. Mary's Catholic Church
January 2004 photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson |
| |
| The community
dates from 1891 when 75,000 acres of the Clark Plumb Pasture Company
was sold. Developers, eager to establish a town put up the money for
the church, a rectory and a school. In 1892 the post office had been
granted under the name Windthorst and the next year brought 40 families
into the community. Within two years another 35 families had arrived.
|
|
|
St.
Mary's Catholic Church altar
January 2004 photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson |
| |
|
|
St.
Mary's Catholic Church balcony
January 2004 photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson |
| |
| Windthorst became
known as the dairy capital of North Texas. The church school became
public sometime in the 1920s. The population had reached 1,000 by
the late 1970s although it has since declined to 367 in 1990, and
rose to 440 in 2000. |
|
|
