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D'Hanis, Texas

Everything D'Hanis is known for

2 songs mention this city

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Music in D'Hanis

Songs About D'Hanis

if you were mine
miranda labert & leon bridges
16%
all my ex's live in texas
george strait
10%

Artists From D'Hanis

No artists from D'Hanis in the database yet.

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Rivers & Roads in Song near D'Hanis

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near D'Hanis.

US Route 90 9 songs Frio River 13 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Nueces River 3 songs Guadalupe River 18 songs Interstate 10 36 songs

History of D'Hanis

D'Hanis, TX RoadyGoat

D'Hanis has a rich ethnic heritage, primarily shaped by the German emigrants who first settled the area. The town was founded by Count von D'Hanis and was settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and Germany. Many residents spoke Alsatian and German, and some Alsatians, being ethnic Germans, maintained their German culture, language, and traditions. This blend of Alsatian and German heritage has left a lasting impact on D'Hanis, influencing its community and identity.

D'Hanis, TX RoadyGoat

D'Hanis was founded by Count von D'Hanis around 1845, and it was one of several towns established by Henri Castro. The town was initially settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and Germany, who brought with them their distinct culture, language, and traditions. These early settlers played a crucial role in shaping the identity and character of D'Hanis.

D'Hanis, TX RoadyGoat

The name D'Hanis is a nod to its founder, Count von D'Hanis, who established the town around 1845. The name carries a sense of historical significance, linking the town's identity to its origins and the influential figure who set its early course.

D'Hanis

1847

In 1847 Henri Castro established D'Hanis, his fourth colony, 1.5 miles east of this site, named for a Castro Company official. Alsatian immigrants endured great hardship to build a community that thrived for over 30 years. In 1881, when the railroad bypassed the town, D'Hanis moved with it. Aided by the railroad, new D'Hanis flourished, sending cattle, cotton, and brick to markets. From 1900 a strong Mexican-American community grew in the town, contributing to its fortune. The new area survived despite crop failures and the Great Depression, becoming known simply as D'Hanis. (1997)

Historical Marker →

J. M. Koch's Hotel

1898

J. M. and Mary Ann Koch owned and operated a hotel in D'Hanis beginning in 1898. They purchased the land on this site in July 1902, and built this hotel in 1906. Reportedly constructed by Chinese railroad laborers, it is built of early bricks from the D'Hanis brick plant. In December 1914 the Koch family sold the building, which continued as a hotel until 1920. The Farmers Exchange of D'Hanis purchased it that year for use as a feed store, adding a cotton scale to the east side of the structure. A later owner operated it as a boarding house. A simple but elegant early 20th century hotel with Late Victorian details, the edifice's notable architectural features include its symmetrical plan, three-bay façade with central door, paired round-arch windows, 2-story porch and corbelled brickwork on the parapet. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2000

Historical Marker →

Fort Lincoln

1849

Fort Lincoln, on the west bank of Seco Creek a mile north of D'Hanis in west central Medina County, was named for Capt. George Lincoln, an officer of Company E, Eighth Infantry, who lost his life in the Mexican War battle of Buena Vista. The fort was one of eight that formed the first line of permanent federal frontier defense in Texas from Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande to Coffee's Bend on the Red River. In 1848, at the conclusion of the Mexican War, a Texas Ranger company commanded by Charles S. DeMontel established a camp on Seco Creek a mile north of D'Hanis. On July 7, 1849, Fort Lincoln was established at the site used the year before by DeMontel. The 1,476-acre plot had been patented to the heirs of Milton Anderson on August 27, 1846. The fort was built on the west bank of Seco Creek on high, open ground that provided a commanding view of the surroundings. Companies E and G of the Eighth United States Infantry , commanded by Maj. James Longstreet, were stationed at Fort Lincoln to repel and track down Indian raiders in protection of newly arrived European and American settlers and the commercial and military property transported on the Woll Road, an important trade route from San Antonio to Fort Duncan on the Rio Grande and points west. Longstreet's second in command, Lt. Richard Irving Dodge, was the man for whom Dodge City, Kansas, was named. Water for the post was hauled from Seco Creek, at that time no more than a succession of standing pools. The builders of the fort made use of the locally abundant gray limestone in construction. In 1851 the installation had buildings for two companies, a commissary store, a storehouse for company property, a storehouse for the quartermaster's depot, and a hospital. The temporary buildings were of logs or poles, with roofs of shingles, thatch, or tarpaulins. Though the number of officers and men stationed at the fort was usually between 90 and 120, it reached 141 at one time. Longstreet was succeeded by Maj. Pitcairn Morrison, who was succeeded by Bvt. Capt. William Steel and Capt. Washington G. Newton. Fort Lincoln was abandoned on July 20, 1852, after the frontier line had advanced westward. The buildings remained intact for some time, and the Texas Rangers made headquarters at the site. The barracks were torn down and transformed into residences east of Seco Creek at D'Hanis after being purchased by Irishman Richard Reily, who used the hospital building to raise his family. None of the buildings remains. On May 26, 1936, a dedication ceremony was held for the unveiling of a marker placed by the Texas Centennial Commission at the site.

Tsha Handbook →

D'Hanis, Town of

1847

Now Known as Old D'Hanis. Established in 1847 by 29 families under the leadership of Theodore Gentilz, representing Henri Castro (1781...1861), distinguished pioneer and colonizer of Texas who introduced the early settlers of Medina County. Named in honor of Guillaume (William) D'Hanis, manager of the colonization society. When the Southern Pacific Railroad missed the town, its citizens moved to the present D'Hanis. Erected by The State of Texas 1936

Historical Marker →

Hondo Anvil Herald

1886

The Hondo Anvil Herald , a weekly newspaper serving Medina County since 1886, owes its origins to a nineteenth-century county seat dispute that divided the Southwest Texas towns of Castroville and Hondo City and to a man who later bought the principal papers from each town and put them together. The Castroville Anvil was established in July 1886, not long after Castroville defeated a move to make Hondo the county seat. Castroville supporters staged a large celebration of their hard-won victory. One of the features of the event was the firing of anvils, a process by which anvils are blown into the air by charges of gunpowder. The loud, cannon-like reports set the nearby hills ringing with echoes. The newspaper was named Anvil to suggest a metaphorical parallel. Two previous papers had operated in Castroville, the Era (1876–79) and the Quill (1879–82). With total capital of $2,500 the Castroville Printing and Publishing Company formed on May 24, 1886. Circulation was more than 500 within a year and 750 by 1888. W. B. Stephens, the first Anvil editor and printer, was succeeded after two years by P. J. Stephenson. In 1889 the paper was sold to the state Farmers' Alliance , which sought $5,000 in stock from members. John G. Hall served as editor. In 1892 Castroville lost to Hondo City in another county seat election. In 1891 Herman E. Haass, who as a boy had worked as an Era printer's devil, became the Anvil 's editor and business manager. He bought out the paper in 1893 but sold his interest in 1894, when he was elected county judge. Hall returned as editor and major owner, though the Anvil Printing Company was held by Haass's father, Valentin, a native of Bavaria. J. O. Holzhaus replaced Hall as editor in 1898. In 1900 Valentin Haass sold the Anvil for $275 to twenty-six-year-old Fletcher Davis of Marshall County, Mississippi, a partner of another of Haass's sons, Henry. In August that year Davis married Roberta Octavia Hopp, who became lifelong assistant editor. The Hondo Herald , established in March 1891 by H. S. Kirby with editors Sam and Jeff Jones, was Hondo's third paper. It was preceded by the short-lived Medina County News (1882–88) and the Hondo City Quill (1890). Louis J. Brucks became editor in 1893, left in 1895, and returned in 1897. Herald circulation was 470 by 1894 and 520 by 1896. Brucks, who became sole owner by 1897, later served as county and district attorney. The Herald 's only competition was the short-lived Hondo News (1900). Davis bought the Hondo Herald and consolidated it with the Anvil and named the paper the Hondo Anvil Herald . The first edition appeared on October 17, 1903. In July 1911 Texas citizens voted narrowly against a statewide constitutional amendment for prohibition . Beginning the previous September, in 1910, Davis's antiprohibitionist Anvil Herald saw local competition from a new weekly, the Hondo Times , edited by W. R. and J. H. Hardy. The new paper, financed by local prohibition supporters, took a strong dry stance and pushed for the amendment. The two papers warred through their editorial pages for eleven months. Shortly after the election vindicated Davis in majorities both statewide and in Medina County, the Hardys sold the Times to Edward J. Brucks. By 1914 Davis had bought out the Times and also acquired the Star in nearby D'Hanis. In addition to newspapers, Davis's office also handled job printing. In the 1930s and up to the mid-1940s Davis's daughter, Anne, ran the paper as managing editor. In 1946 the Davises sold the Anvil Herald to William E. Berger, an Illinois native who had worked for the Gonzales Daily Inquirer . Berger bought the Anvil Herald with backing from his Gonzales employers but like Davis soon became sole owner. Anvil Herald circulation, about 1,800 when the paper changed hands in 1946, grew to 3,600 by the late 1980s. In 1986 the paper celebrated its 100th anniversary with a ninety-four-page commemorative edition.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.3 mi away

Things to Do in D'Hanis

quirky 24.3 mi away
A 400-Year-Old House Crosses the Ocean

The Steinbach Haus was originally built between 1618 and 1648 in Wahlbach Alsace France. In 1988 the Steinbach family carefully numbered every beam and…
quirky 24.3 mi away
The Frozen Dialect

For over a century visitors to Castroville were more likely to hear Alsatian than English in the homes stores and taverns. The remarkable thing is the dialect…
historical 24.2 mi away
Henri Castros Impossible Dream

Henri Castro was born in 1786 to a prominent Jewish family in France. He became a US citizen then returned to Europe to recruit settlers for a Texas empresario…
historical 24.2 mi away
The Little Alsace of Texas

In 1844 a French-born empresario named Henri Castro led 700 Alsatian farmers across the Atlantic to settle 25 miles west of San Antonio. They built…
historical 24.3 mi away
Drought Locusts and Cholera

The Alsatian settlers who founded Castroville in 1844 faced a gauntlet of biblical proportions. First came Comanche raids. Then a fifteen-month drought…
historical 24.0 mi away
The San Antonio-El Paso Road

By 1849 Castroville had become a vital water stop on the San Antonio-El Paso Road the main artery connecting civilization to the far western frontier.…
quirky 24.1 mi away
The Grand Daddy Church Festival

What started in 1882 as a handful of families celebrating the feast of St. Louis has grown into Castrovilles signature event drawing 10000 visitors each…
historical 24.2 mi away
The Landmark Inn

In 1849 a way station was built on the Medina River to serve travelers heading west from San Antonio on the El Paso Road. Perched along the riverbank the…

Sports in D'Hanis

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 1A · Softball · 2019–2022

D'Hanis — UIL 1A Softball State Champions — 2 titles

Most recent: 2022 1A

D'Hanis School, nestled in the heart of Medina County, boasts a proud tradition in Class 1A softball. The Cowgirls have twice reached the pinnacle of Texas high school softball, securing UIL State Championships in 2019 and again in 2022. These titles highlight a consistent level of excellence within the smallest classification of Texas high school sports.

The community of D'Hanis, with its quiet charm, has rallied around its team, celebrating these significant achievements. The Cowgirls' success on the diamond reflects the dedication found in small-town Texas athletics, where local support and hard work often lead to memorable seasons.

State titles
2 (2019–2022)
Most recent
2022
Class
1A
The moment

The D'Hanis Cowgirls captured the Class 1A UIL State Championship in 2022.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives

Everything Near D'Hanis

78 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • D'Hanis, TX

    D'Hanis has a rich ethnic heritage, primarily shaped by the German emigrants who first settled the area. The town was founded by Count von D'Hanis and was settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and…

  • D'Hanis, TX

    D'Hanis was founded by Count von D'Hanis around 1845, and it was one of several towns established by Henri Castro. The town was initially settled by 29 Alsatian families from present-day France and Germany, who brought…

  • D'Hanis · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1847 Henri Castro established D'Hanis, his fourth colony, 1.5 miles east of this site, named for a Castro Company official. Alsatian immigrants endured great hardship to build a community that thrived for over 30…

  • J. M. Koch's Hotel · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    J. M. and Mary Ann Koch owned and operated a hotel in D'Hanis beginning in 1898. They purchased the land on this site in July 1902, and built this hotel in 1906. Reportedly constructed by Chinese railroad laborers, it…

  • D'hanis, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through D'Hanis, a community with a story that starts on the Texas frontier. Founded in the spring of 1847 by twenty-nine Alsatian families, it was the third settlement established by Henri Castro. These…

  • Fort Lincoln · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Fort Lincoln, on the west bank of Seco Creek a mile north of D'Hanis in west central Medina County, was named for Capt. George Lincoln, an officer of Company E, Eighth Infantry, who lost his life in the Mexican War…

  • D'Hanis, Town of · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    Now Known as Old D'Hanis. Established in 1847 by 29 families under the leadership of Theodore Gentilz, representing Henri Castro (1781...1861), distinguished pioneer and colonizer of Texas who introduced the early…

  • Site of Saint Dominic Catholic Church and Cemetery · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through D'Hanis, a town founded by Alsatian immigrants in 1847. Right here, you're passing the site of Saint Dominic Catholic Church and its original cemetery. The first church, built of limestone, went…

  • Site of Fort Lincoln · 2.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Lincoln, established by the U.S. Army in July of 1849. It was part of a chain of forts built to protect the Texas frontier. The fort was named for Captain George Lincoln, who died…

  • Rothe-Rowe Ranch House · 2.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Rothe-Rowe Ranch House, built in 1882 by Louis Rothe. This native stone home sits on land that once bordered Fort Lincoln, a U.S. Army post from 1849 to 1853, and the busy Woll Road. Over the…

  • The Biggest Navigation School in the World · 6.5 mi

    The airport on the west edge of Hondo was once the largest Army Air Forces navigation school anywhere on Earth. Authorized in March 1942, just months after Pearl Harbor, the base was thrown up at breakneck speed: the…

  • Teaching Pilots to Steer by the Stars · 6.5 mi

    There was a reason the Army parked its biggest navigation school out here in the dry South Texas brush: the sky. Celestial navigation needed clear, cloudless nights, and Hondo delivered them, so cadets could practice…

Show all 78 nearby places
  • Hondo Anvil Herald · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Hondo Anvil Herald , a weekly newspaper serving Medina County since 1886, owes its origins to a nineteenth-century county seat dispute that divided the Southwest Texas towns of Castroville and Hondo City and to a…

  • Hondo Army Airfield · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hondo, Texas, right past where the Hondo Army Airfield used to be. Back in early 1942, this town rallied like never before. Citizens secured guarantees for 400 housing units in less than two days…

  • Mission Valley, TX (Medina County) · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, not far from Hondo. Right here, in what's now Mission Valley, was once a thriving Black settlement. Many of the first residents arrived as slaves in the 1850s, but after…

  • Davis, Fletcher · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hondo, Texas, a town that owes a lot to Fletcher Davis. He wasn't a native Texan, arriving here in 1895 with fragile health. But by 1900, this former teacher, with no prior newspaper experience,…

  • Harper, George Weldon · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, and right here along Hondo Creek, George Weldon Harper built his life. Arriving in 1856, he quickly became a major landowner, raising cotton and corn with a large enslaved…

  • Hondo, TX · 7.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Hondo, the county seat of Medina County. This town owes its existence to the railroad, which laid tracks through here in 1881. The very first sale of land from the Hondo City plat happened on October…

  • Southern Pacific Depot of Hondo · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Southern Pacific Depot in Hondo. The first train chugged into this area back in 1881, connecting Hondo City to the growing Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, which was…

  • Mission Valley · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hondo, Texas, where a community called Mission Valley sprang to life after Emancipation. In 1865, freed slaves stayed on the land, and by 1869, they'd built a church and school. Then, in 1876, a man…

  • The Night They Robbed Both Banks at Once · 8.4 mi

    Downtown Hondo earned a small footnote in outlaw history during the Roaring Twenties. The Newton Boys, four brothers out of the Uvalde country who became the most successful bank-and-train robbers in American history,…

  • Hondo, TX · 8.4 mi

    Hondo’s got a certain charm, a feeling you get driving in under those live oaks, knowing you’re somewhere special. It’s more than just the elevation giving you a good view of the plains stretching out around us. It’s…

  • This Is God's Country, Please Don't Drive Through It Like Hell · 8.4 mi

    If you slow down rolling into town, the sign on the city limits is doing exactly its job. In 1930 the Hondo Lions Club put up a roadside sign that read, This is God's Country, Don't Drive Thru It Like Hell, a blunt plea…

  • Named Deep, Built by a Railroad · 8.4 mi

    The name on the water tower is older than the town under it. Back in 1689 the Spanish explorer Alonso De Leon crossed this country on his way to East Texas and tagged the streams as he went, naming the Medina River and…

  • The German Cottage Behind a Hometown Name · 8.4 mi

    One of the oldest buildings in the Hondo area belongs to a family whose name still turns up around town. Henry Schuehle came over from Germany, bought land near here, and built a one-and-a-half-story cottage out of…

  • El Charro on the Old Highway · 8.4 mi

    If you want a plate of enchiladas in the town that begged you not to drive through like hell, El Charro is the local institution that fits the bill. It sits right on 19th Street, which is U.S. Highway 90 running…

  • Leinweber Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Leinweber Building, built in 1907 for Ernest Roland Leinweber, a big-time Hondo businessman. This three-story commercial building was constructed by Gus Birkner, a…

  • Hondo · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hondo, a town with a name that echoes Spanish explorers. They called this place 'El Arroyo Hondo,' the deep creek. Permanent settlers arrived in the 1840s, but it was the railroad that truly put…

  • The Town That Stole the County Seat · 8.5 mi

    The limestone courthouse anchoring downtown is the prize from an old county feud. For decades the seat of Medina County sat at Castroville, the little Alsatian town near the eastern edge of the county. But when the…

  • Fohn-Bless Store · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Fohn-Bless Store, a building that served Hondo for nearly a century. It started life around 1878 in D'Hanis as a store and home built by Prussian immigrant John Fohn. But this wasn't…

  • Medina County Courthouse · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Medina County Courthouse. It wasn't always here, though. Back in 1892, Hondo City won an election and became the new county seat, taking over from Castroville.…

  • Berger House · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Berger House in Hondo, a solid reminder of early Texas craftsmanship. Look for its brick construction, featuring inner walls made of solid brick too – that's some serious building for its time.…

  • Hondo Methodist Church · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, and right here is the Hondo Methodist Church. Imagine early Methodist settlers, way back in 1857, gathering under a big old live oak tree by the creek to worship. They officially organized…

  • St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Hondo. Built in 1912 from local Seco brick, this was the second church building for the town's Catholic community. San Antonio architect Fred Bowen Gaenslen…

  • The Hondo Hurricane · 8.7 mi

    Hondo gave Major League Baseball one of its great what-if stories, and the nickname says it all: Clint Hartung, the Hondo Hurricane. Born here in 1922 to a German-descended farming family, Clinton Clarence Hartung grew…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Hondo (Hondo) · 8.7 mi

    Hondo (Hondo, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Kolten Alvarez (0.479 avg); Mason Barr (0.471 avg).

  • Arroyo Hondo, Battle of · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a forgotten battle from the 1840s. In 1842, Mexico launched three invasions into Texas, trying to reclaim land lost in the Revolution. After General Woll's forces captured San Antonio,…

  • Medina County · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Medina County, Texas. This county was formed from Bexar County back in 1848, and organized the same year. It's named for the river that flows through it, and its county seat was Castroville until…

  • The World's Largest Navigation School · 9.3 mi

    Look toward the northwest edge of town, about two miles out, and you'll see the South Texas Regional Airport. During World War Two this was Hondo Army Air Field, and it was the largest air navigation school in the…

  • The Science of Finding the Way · 9.3 mi

    The large airfield on the edge of Hondo is more than just a runway; it’s a monument to a critical moment in technology and applied mathematics. During World War Two, this was the Hondo Army Air Field, and its mission…

  • The County Seat War · 9.3 mi

    The stately Medina County Courthouse in the center of Hondo is more than just a beautiful building; it's a trophy from a political war. When Hondo was platted in 1881, the county seat was in Castroville, the older…

  • Highway One Seventy Three and Westmoreland's Fire Brigade · 10.1 mi

    State Highway One Seventy Three, from near Kerrville down to near Jourdanton, is the One Seventy Third Airborne Brigade Memorial Highway. The highway and the brigade share a number. Texas lawmakers passed the…

  • Pearson, Frederick Stark · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through South Texas, near the Medina River, a place that was once the focus of a massive irrigation project. Right here, Frederick Stark Pearson, a brilliant civil engineer who had already built electric…

  • Gallagher's Ranch, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Gallagher's Ranch, also known as Clifden, was on San Geronimo Creek two miles southwest of the junction of Park Road 37 and State Highway 16, in far northeastern Medina County. The site is the location of the oldest…

  • New Fountain, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    New Fountain is a rural community on Farm Road 2676 four miles northeast of Hondo in Medina County. In 1845 a number of original colonists in Henri Castro 's colony settled on Verde Creek at Vandenburg. Within a year…

  • Quihi, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Quihi is at the intersection of Farm Road 2676 and Quihi Creek, nine miles northeast of Hondo in northeastern Medina County. It was laid out on Quihi Lake in 1845 by Henri Castro and named for the white-necked Mexican…

  • German Vernacular Architecture · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through the heart of Texas, and the houses you see might just be telling a story of German ingenuity. When German immigrants settled here, especially in the Hill Country and Medina County, they didn't…

  • Log Architecture · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, and you might be passing structures built with a technique that's as old as the frontier itself. Log construction, brought here by settlers from places like the Delaware valley, became the…

  • Vandenburg, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Vandenburg, the second of empresario Henri Castro 's colonial frontier settlements, was located west of San Antonio in what is today Medina County six miles north of the site of present Hondo. After settling…

  • Fort Ewell Creek · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Medina County, and the creek beside you is named after a road that's been a lifeline for centuries. This is Fort Ewell Creek, named for Fort Ewell Road. That road traces its history all the way…

  • Biry, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Biry, also referred to as Biryville and as Briar Branch, is on Farm Road 173 and Briar Branch Creek, twelve miles southeast of Hondo in Medina County. The settlement was situated within empresario Henri Castro 's…

  • Mico, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mico is a fishing resort on County Road 271 just east of the main dam at Medina Lake in northeastern Medina County. The name Mico comes from the acronym for the Medina Irrigation Company. The community's post office was…

  • Riomedina, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Riomedina (Rio Medina) is a farming community on Farm Road 471 in the Medina River valley six miles north of Castroville in northeastern Medina County. The town is named for its location between two main branches of the…

  • John M. Davenport · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, near Sabinal. Look for the marker honoring John M. Davenport, a tough stock-raiser and captain of volunteer Indian fighters. His life, from 1827 to 1859, was spent on the Texas…

  • Sabinal · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Sabinal, a town with a name that echoes from Spanish explorers. They called the river here 'Rio Sabina' for the cypress trees lining its banks. The town itself was officially founded in 1854 by…

  • Old Ingram · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Ingram, a town that thrived for fifty years before a new highway changed its fate. Settlers arrived here even before the Civil War, but the town itself really began in 1879. That's…

  • Sabinal, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Sabinal, originally known as Hammer's Station. Right here, in 1854, Thomas Hammer established a stage stop on the Sabinal River, a vital outpost on the frontier. Just a few years later, in 1857,…

  • Sabinal Christian College · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Uvalde County, not far from Sabinal. Right here, in 1907, a Church of Christ college opened its doors. Sabinal Christian College was built with red bricks from Laredo and local lumber, offering…

  • First Baptist Church, Sabinal · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Sabinal. It began in 1899 with eight charter members and the Rev. Winter Green. The congregation worshipped monthly, meeting in various buildings before…

  • Vandenburg · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hondo, Texas, but just a few miles from here, a whole community called Vandenburg once thrived. Founded in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as> by Empresario Henri Castro, this…

  • Nichols Cemetery · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Nichols Cemetery near Kerrville. This peaceful resting place began with a man named Rowland Nichols, who settled here and served as a county commissioner. He died violently in 1859, killed by Native…

  • Sabinal Methodist Church · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Sabinal, where the Methodist Church began in 1876 as part of the Sabinal circuit. Services were held in other buildings until their own structure was finished in 1907. The church continued to grow…

  • The Honey Capital of the World · 11.9 mi

    You might not guess it driving through, but this brush country was one of the great honey districts of the world. The title itself belongs to Uvalde, twenty miles down the road, honored as the Honey Capital of the World…

  • The Science of Sabinal Honey · 11.9 mi

    The reason this brush country became famous for honey isn't just history — it's botany. The landscape around you is a transition zone, with soils that support a very particular community of native plants, and the star…

  • Camp Sabinal · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Uvalde County, not far from where Camp Sabinal once stood. Back on July 12, 1856, Captain Albert G. Brackett of the Second U.S. Cavalry established this spot. Its mission? To protect travelers on…

  • Masonic Cemetery · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Masonic Cemetery in Hondo, opened in 1864 when Junior Warden Rubin Smith was killed by Indians. Freemasons and others in the New Fountain Settlement had already built a stone church-lodge hall…

  • The Wiemers Oak · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Wiemers Oak, a living piece of Hondo history. It was under this very tree, back in 1854, that German migrant Johann Wiemers and his wife Aalke found their faith. Reverend John Schaper held…

  • New Fountain (Soldaten Kemp) Methodist Church · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be called Soldaten Kemp, a historic meeting spot for soldiers and travelers on the old San Antonio Road. By the mid-1800s, German immigrants were settling here. In 1858, Reverend John…

  • Yancey, TX · 15.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Yancey, Texas, a community with a few names before settling on this one. First called Tehuacana, then Moss, it finally became Yancey in 1897, named after the sons of the landowners. By 1914, this…

  • Yancey United Methodist Church · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Yancey United Methodist Church, a building that brought two communities together. Back in 1875, a circuit preacher named A.J. Potter started holding services for one group. Meanwhile, a separate…

  • Quihi · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Quihi, a settlement founded way back in 1845 by ten families sent by Henry Castro, a big-deal pioneer. They were the first wave of Alsatian immigrants to this area. Life here was tough, though.…

  • General Woll's Road · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the route of General Woll's Road, built in 1842. To sneak into Texas and capture San Antonio, Mexican troops under General Adrian Woll needed a new path. Colonel Jose Maria Carrasco carved out this…

  • The Jefferson Davis Highway Plan · 15.7 mi

    Several Texas highways carry an old honorary name, the Jefferson Davis Highway. It grew out of a plan conceived in nineteen thirteen and promoted by the United Daughters of the Confederacy: a coast to coast road named…

  • Bethlehem Lutheran Church · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The Rev. Christian Oefinger, serving as pastor of the Castroville Lutheran Church, led in founding this congregation in March 1852. The first church building was dedicated…

  • Cow Camp Massacre on Hondo Creek · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hondo Creek, the site of a deadly encounter in the mid-1800s. It was January 27, 1866. Three young men – August Rothe, George Miller, and Hubert Weynand – left their homes near D'Hanis to find stray…

  • Schuehle-Saathoff House · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Schuehle-Saathoff House, a limestone cottage built in 1850 by German immigrant Henry Schuehle. It represents the vernacular building style of early German settlers in Texas. In 1900, S.H.…

  • In This Vicinity June 24, 1841, John Coffee Hays · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Texas Hill Country, near Utopia. On June 24, 1841, a pivotal moment happened right around here. Captain John Coffee Hays, a legendary Texas Ranger, led a company of just 12 men. They teamed up…

  • Tehuacana Cemetery · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Tehuacana Cemetery, a final resting place for many early Frio County pioneers. The first burial here was in 1875, and the community later added land for a church and school. Buried within are victims…

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