Sandies-Dewville Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. Somewhere out in Gonzales County, two communities share one story, and that story goes back about as far as Texas itself. We're talkin' the 1830s, when members of Green DeWitt's Colony first settled a place they called Sandies.

That's the beginning. And beginnings out here were never simple. These were people putting down roots in raw country, building something from nothing, and they meant to stay.

By 1842 they had a church. By 1858 a Masonic Lodge. And somewhere along the way, a school.

Three pillars of a community standin' together. Sandies was real, and Sandies had roots. Then came 1886, and two brothers named Tom and Frank Dew opened a store and a gin, one mile from Sandies.

One mile. Not in Sandies. Just down the road from it.

That distinction, small as it sounds, is about to matter quite a bit. A new community started growin' around that store, and by 1894 it had its own post office. They called it Dewville.

Then in 1897, Mrs. C. C.

Vernor platted the townsite, and that's when the old gave way to the new. The church moved. The school moved.

Dewville had become the place to be. But time has a way of humbling even the most determined little towns. After World War II, Dewville's population dwindled.

And in 1955, the post office closed. Today, if you go lookin' for Sandies, what you'll find is a cemetery. That's what marks the site now.

Over in Dewville, the Methodist church still stands, and the I.O.O.F. Cemetery is still there too. Two communities, one long arc, and what remains is exactly what always remains: the church and the dead.

Texas keeps score that way.

What the marker says

Sandies was settled in the 1830s by members of Green DeWitt's Colony. A church (1842), Masonic Lodge (1858), and school were established. Tom and Frank Dew opened their store and gin one mile from Sandies in 1886. A post office opened in 1894 at the new community of Dewville. After Mrs. C. C. Vernor platted the townsite in 1897, the church and school relocated. Dewville's population dwindled after World War II, and the post office closed in 1955. Today, a cemetery marks the site of Sandies, while the Methodist church and the I.O.O.F. Cemetery remain in Dewville. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986