DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just passin' it along. Out here in Wilson County, if you know where to look, there's a stretch of road that used to carry wagons all the way between San Antonio and Indianola. The Old San Antonio-Indianola Road.
And right along that corridor, back in late 1873, a man named Wiley R. Franklin bought himself some land — about a mile and a half south of where we're talking — and he didn't let the grass grow under his feet. He built a small horse-powered cotton gin, and just like that, a community started taking shape.
They called it Marcelina, named for Marcelinas Creek nearby. Now once a place gets a cotton gin, folks tend to follow. In 1874, a Baptist congregation was organized, and they weren't waiting on a church building either — they held services right in the home of Gabriel Moffit.
The next year, 1875, a one-teacher school opened. And then in 1882, the cemetery was begun, as cemeteries always are, with a death — that of Martin Donaho. By 1886, William Y.
Elkins had established a mercantile store, and when the post office opened on February 1st of 1887, Elkins was named postmaster. The man was clearly making himself useful. And here's where the story really gets rolling.
By the mid-1890s, Marcelina wasn't some dusty wide spot in the road anymore. The community had two stores, two cotton gins, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, a gristmill, large school and church buildings, and several homes. Agriculture had always been the backbone of it — cotton, primarily — and the community was prospering.
Then 1901 arrived, and with it, the boll weevil. The crops became infested, and that prosperous little community began to decline. Improvements in transportation pulled trade away toward Floresville, five and a half miles to the west.
And when rural mail delivery came along, well, there wasn't much use for a local post office anymore. It closed on October 1st, 1906. All that remains of the Marcelina Community today are the cemetery and the Baptist Church.
The present sanctuary was erected in 1935 — still standing, still holding, out on a road that once connected two of the biggest points on the Texas map. Some communities fade. Marcelina just got very quiet.
What the marker says
Located on the Old San Antonio-Indianola Road, this rural settlement, named for nearby Marcelinas Creek, began in late 1873, when Wiley R. Franklin (1837-93) bought land in the area (1.5 miles S) and built a small horse-powered cotton gin. In 1874, a Baptist congregation was organized, holding services in the home of Gabriel Moffit; a one-teacher school opened in 1875; and the cemetery was begun in 1882 with the death of Martin Donaho. William Y. Elkins established a mercantile store in 1886, and was named postmaster when the post office opened on Feb. 1, 1887. By the mid-1890s, Marcelina had 2 stores, 2 cotton gins, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, gristmill, large school and church buildings, and several homes. From the beginning, the local economic base had been agriculture, primarily cotton production, but in 1901, the crops became infested with boll weevils and the prosperous community began to decline. Improvements in transportation diverted trade to Floresville (5.5 miles W), and the advent of rural mail delivery caused the post office to close on Oct. 1, 1906. All that remains of the Marcelina Community are the cemetery and the Baptist Church. The present sanctuary was erected in 1935. (1974)