DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Bandera Historic Town Center tells it this way, and I'm just the one drivin' you through it. Now settle in, because this story's got layers older than the town itself. It starts — as so many Texas stories do — not with a deed or a survey, but with conflict.
The name Bandera, the pass, the city, the county — that name traces all the way back to the early 18th century, to clashes between the Spanish Army and the native Lipan Apaches. Whatever happened out there in that pass left a mark deep enough to name everything that came after it. The marker doesn't tell us the whole story of that conflict.
Just that it happened, and that the name stuck. Sometimes that's enough. The land has a long memory.
Then we skip ahead to the early 1840s, when two men — Charles de Montel and John James — came exploring and surveying the area on the northeast side of the Medina River. These weren't just drifters passing through. They were sizing the place up.
They formed a company with a third man, John Hunter Herndon, and on December 9, 1841, the three of them purchased land from Bernardino Ruiz, out of Bexar County land survey number 58, section 5. Now who were these men? De Montel was a German immigrant who became a soldier in the Texas army and an early settler of the area.
James was a surveyor who mapped across Texas, including some of the earliest mapping of the Hill Country — the kind of work that put places on the map before most people knew those places existed. And Herndon? Herndon was one of the wealthiest men in Texas at the time.
Between the three of them, they had grit, skill, and capital. Together, they oversaw the establishment of buildings and the expansion of what would become the town of Bandera. Near what became the center of that townsite survey — now 11th Street — Ruiz had already built a small stone house.
That house had a life of its own. James used it as a land office. Then it was sold to de Montel.
James and de Montel also established a sawmill in the new town. A sawmill and a land office — the twin engines of a place findin' itself. Then comes 1854, and a man named Lyman Wight established a Mormon colony near Bandera.
That colony came with a schoolhouse and a furniture factory. The very next year, Polish immigrants arrived — and here's where the story gets written in stone, literally. Many of those early hand-cut limestone buildings they raised are still counted among Bandera's architectural heritage today.
One Polish immigrant, Johann Dlugosz — known as John Dugosh — built the first combined store and post office. He built it for a German immigrant named August Klappenbach. In 1856, the Texas legislature created and organized Bandera County and made Bandera the county seat.
And the community that grew up around all of this? It wasn't any one kind of people. African American, British, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, French — settlers of various origins became part of this place.
That little stone house Ruiz built, that sawmill, those limestone buildings hand-cut by Polish hands — they were all saying the same thing: we're staying. The town of Bandera didn't rise up out of nothing. It rose up out of all of them.
What the marker says
The origin of the name of Bandera Pass and its namesake city and county dates back to conflicts between the Spanish Army and native Lipan Apaches in the early 18th century. The history of the townsite began in the early 1840s, when Charles de Montel and John James explored and surveyed the area on the northeast side of the medina river. The men formed a company with John Hunter Herndon and purchased land from Bernardino Ruiz out of Bexar County land survey no. 58, section 5, on December 9, 1841. De Montel, a German immigrant, became a soldier in the Texas army and an early area settler; James surveyed across Texas including some of the earliest mapping of the Hill Country; and Herndon was one of the wealthiest men in Texas at the time. Together, these three men oversaw the establishment of buildings and expansion for the town of Bandera. Near what became the center of the townsite survey (now 11th street), Ruiz had built a small stone house, which was later used by James as a land office and then sold to de Montel. James and de Montel also established a sawmill in the new town. In 1854, Lyman Wight established a Mormon colony near Bandera, which included a schoolhouse and furniture factory. The following year, polish immigrants arrived, and many of their early hand-cut limestone buildings are among the city's architectural heritage. Polish immigrant Johann Dlugosz (John Dugosh) built the first combined store and post office for German immigrant, August Klappenbach. The Texas legislature created and organized Bandera County in 1856 and made Bandera the county seat. Settlers of various origins became part of the community, including African American, British, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish and French immigrants.