John Gawlik House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Now, picture this: the year is 1858, out on the South Texas prairie, and a man named John Gawlik is stacking stones. Not just any stones, mind you, and not just any man.

Gawlik was a stone mason, and he'd come all the way from upper Silesia, hauling with him not just his tools but his entire sense of how a home ought to look. What he built that year in Panna Maria is still standing. The oldest stone home in Panna Maria.

Let that settle in a moment. Oldest. Stone.

Home. In Panna Maria. In 1858.

That is not a small thing. Now, if you're wonderin' what a house from upper Silesia looks like planted down in Karnes County, Texas, the marker will tell you. You look for a steeply pitched gable roof, and those big overhangs reaching out over the porch like the house itself is offerin' you shade.

Two small windows, just enough to let the air move through. And inside, connected right to the fireplaces, smoking rooms for meat. Rural upper Silesian homes had all of that, and so does the John Gawlik House.

The man brought his homeland with him, stone by stone. And Gawlik didn't stop with his own four walls. He also assisted in building Panna Maria's Immaculate Conception Church, and helped put up other local homes too.

A stone mason leavin' his mark all over the community, not just on his own property. John and his wife Johanna lived in that house together, for decades, right up until Johanna's death in 1899. After that, the Theo and Eva Pollok family took ownership of the property.

And after them, subsequent generations of the Emma and Joe J. Janysek family have held it. Three families, one house, and every one of them keeping those upper Silesian walls standing under that same steep Texas sky.

A man left Silesia, crossed an ocean, and built something in 1858 that is still the oldest stone home in Panna Maria. Some things, you just don't need to add anything to.

What the marker says

Built in 1858 by a Polish immigrant from upper Silesia, the John Gawlik House is the oldest stone home in Panna Maria. Characteristics of rural upper Silesian homes and this house are steeply pitched gable roofs with large overhangs covering the porch, two small windows for ventilation, and interior meat smoking rooms connected to fireplaces. Gawlik, a stone mason, also assisted in building Panna Maria’s immaculate conception church and other local homes. John and his wife, Johanna, lived in the home until Johanna’s death in 1899. Thereafter, the Theo and Eva Pollok family and then subsequent generations of the Emma and Joe J. Janysek family have owned the property. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2014