St. Mary's Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about St. Mary's Catholic Church in Grimes County. Now, some stories start slow and build.

This one starts with a priest riding into Plantersville in the summer of 1860 — just a visit, just the first recorded one — and ends with a Gothic Revival church standing on ten donated acres, its crenellated bell tower pointing straight at heaven. What happened in between? Well, pull up close, because there's a lot of ground to cover.

For years after that first visit, Catholic worship in Plantersville didn't have a church to call home. Services were held at the home of James Kelly Markey — infrequent, yes, but they kept the faith alive. That went on until 1873, when the first proper church building finally went up.

Then came the wave. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Polish and German-Russian immigrants arrived in numbers that the congregation simply could not contain. The pews filled.

The community grew. And Bishop Nicholas Gallagher of the Diocese of Galveston took notice. In 1894, he sent the Reverend Joseph Klein to Plantersville as resident pastor.

Now here's where a woman named Cordelia Baker enters the story, and she enters it quietly but consequentially. During Father Klein's pastorate, she gave ten acres of land to the diocese — for the benefit of a German Catholic Church right there in Plantersville. Ten acres.

That same year, 1894, a small building was completed and dedicated under the name Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Klein served until 1907, when the Reverend George Wilhelm took the pastorate. Under Wilhelm, something significant happened: St.

Mary's divided into Polish and German congregations, and the Polish families went on to found St. Joseph's Church over in Stoneham. Two communities, two churches, grown from the same roots.

And then — 1917. Lightning struck the church building, and it burned to the ground. Just like that, gone.

But here's the thing about this congregation: they didn't wait. That same year, under the leadership of the Reverend George Apel, they replaced it — and not with something modest. They built this Gothic Revival structure, the one that still stands today.

Lancet windows. Buttresses. A crenellated bell tower.

And stained glass windows that carry the German heritage of the congregation right there in the light. A priest rides into town one summer in 1860. By 1917, lightning does its worst — and the answer is a Gothic church rising on the same Grimes County ground before the year is out.

That's the kind of story a marker can only begin to tell.

What the marker says

The first recorded visit of a Catholic priest to Plantersville occurred in the summer of 1860. Infrequent worship services subsequently were held at the home of James Kelly Markey until the first church building was constructed in 1873. An influx of Polish and German-Russian immigrants in the last quarter of the 19th century led to such growth in the congregation that Bishop Nicholas Gallagher of the Diocese of Galveston sent the Rev. Joseph Klein to serve as resident pastor in 1894. During Fr. Klein's pastorate, Cordelia Baker gave 10 acres of land to the diocese for the benefit of a German Catholic Church in Plantersville. A small building was completed and dedicated in 1894 under the name Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After Fr. Klein's departure in 1907, the Rev. George Wilhelm became pastor, and St. Mary's divided into Polish and German congregations, with the Polish families founding St. Joseph's Church in Stoneham. The church building burned to the ground after being struck by lightning in 1917, and it was replaced the same year, under the leadership of the Rev. George Apel, with this Gothic Revival structure. Stained glass windows reflect the German heritage of the congregation, while the lancet windows, buttresses and crenellated bell tower demonstrate the building's Gothic Revival architectural influences. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001