DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Little Church of La Villita, right there in Bexar County. Now, this story starts with a plan that didn't quite work out — and ends with something that's still standing. Back in 1846, the Reverend J.W.
De Vilbiss had himself a vision. He bought a Methodist Church site across the street, right there in that same block. Got himself a bell, set it up to denote the worship site, and everybody figured a proper church was coming.
There was just one problem. When they looked into the lot title, it proved defective. So the Reverend set up his bell, and that was as far as it went.
No church went up across that street. But the story didn't end there. It just waited.
More than thirty years passed. Then, in 1879, the German Methodists stepped in and built what you see today — a Gothic Revival Church, right in that same block where De Vilbiss had once rung his bell into empty air. And here's a detail that tends to stick with people once they hear it.
A workman known simply as Olaf — a Norwegian sailor, they called him — carved the pegs and hinged the lancet-shaped casement windows. A sailor's hands, shaping a church in the heart of San Antonio. Those windows are still there.
The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas bought the church in 1895. And then, decades later, in 1945, the City of San Antonio acquired the title. From a bell hung over a bad lot title in 1846, to a sailor's carved pegs still holding those Gothic windows in place — the Little Church of La Villita has outlasted every chapter of its own complicated history.
What the marker says
In 1846, the Rev. J.W. De Vilbiss bought a Methodist Church site (across street) in this block. He set up a bell, to denote worship site, but did not build when lot title proved defective. In 1879, German Methodist erected this Gothic Revival Church. A workman called Olaf A Norwegian Sailor, carved pegs and hinged the lancetshaped casement windows. Episcopal diocese of West Texas bought church in 1895; City of San Antonio acquired title in 1945. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark--1962.