DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you want a story about a small congregation that got knocked down — literally — and came back swinging, pull up a chair. It started in 1892, when several Czech families made a decision.
They'd been living over in Fayette County, Texas, and they picked up and relocated to a stretch of land about three miles southeast of Wallis. They weren't just moving houses — they were moving a faith community. And almost immediately, they organized a congregation.
Services were held in the Krasna School building, on four acres of land that Francis V. Smid donated that same year, 1892. No grand sanctuary, no steeple catching the light — just a schoolhouse and a people determined to worship together.
Now, the bishop of the Diocese of Galveston had a suggestion. Move closer to the railroad at Wallis. So the congregation did what congregations do when their bishop speaks — they listened, and they built.
In 1899, they erected a new sanctuary at a site closer to that railroad. And when did they hold their first services there? Easter Sunday.
They named the place Guardian Angel. Then came 1900. You already know what happened in 1900 along this part of Texas.
The storm. That church building — the one they'd just built, the one they'd named with such hope — was destroyed. Gone.
But here's the thing about a small congregation with a name like Guardian Angel. They didn't quit. After what the marker calls a determined effort — and I'd imagine it was exactly that — they rebuilt.
By 1904, they had a church again. Then in 1909, the Reverend Frank Machan became the first full-time pastor. The congregation kept growing, and by 1913 they needed something bigger and grander.
So they built a Gothic-style sanctuary — right here at this site — to accommodate all those new families filing through the doors. A school followed in 1914, opening with an enrollment of sixty-four students. And the growth didn't stop there.
By 1933, that school had six teachers and a hundred and seventy students, and the parish itself had swelled to three hundred families. Three hundred families — from a handful of Czech households and a borrowed schoolhouse on four donated acres. Guardian Angel Catholic Church still serves the community of Wallis and a number of rural communities around it.
The storm of 1900 couldn't stop it. The years couldn't shrink it. Some things, it turns out, just keep growing.
What the marker says
This congregation was organized in 1892 by several Czech families who had relocated from Fayette County, Texas, to an area about 3 miles southeast of Wallis, Texas. The congregation held services in the Krasna School building which was located on four acres donated by Francis V. Smid in 1892. At the suggestion of the bishop of the Diocese of Galveston, church members erected a sanctuary in 1899 at a site closer to the railroad at Wallis. The congregation held their first services on Easter Sunday and named their church "Guardian Angel." The church building was destroyed in the storm of 1900, but rebuilt in 1904 after a determined effort by the small congregation. The Rev. Frank Machan became the first full-time pastor in 1909. In 1913 a new Gothic-style sanctuary was built at this site to accommodate a growing congregation. In 1914 a school was established with an enrollment of 64 students. By 1933 the school consisted of six teachers and 170 students and the parish had grown to 300 families. The congregation serves the community of Wallis and a number of rural communities in the area with a variety of outreach programs. The church continues to be an important element of the area's heritage. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995