Infant Jesus of Prague Catholic Church
McFaddin, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built through the generosity of James A. and A. M. McFaddin in 1916, this church began as a mission of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Victoria. It was established to serve Catholics in the Marianna (later McFaddin) community, including workers on the McFaddin Ranch. An important local landmark, the redwood church building features shiplap siding and an attached entry bay at the gable front topped by a woodencross. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1916 with the backing of ranching family James A. and A.M. McFaddin, this redwood church began as a mission of Victoria's St. Mary's and served the Catholics of the Marianna — later McFaddin — community, including the hands of the sprawling McFaddin Ranch. Its shiplap-sided frame and gable-front entry topped by a wooden cross make it a distinctive coastal-Texas landmark. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1990.
Why it matters
Ranch-country chapels show how faith and community took root around the great South Texas cattle operations that shaped the region's economy and culture.
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Related people
- · James A. McFaddin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
McFaddin Mercantile
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When a railroad line pushed through the McFaddin Ranch around 1900, a ranch settlement — briefly renamed Marianna by the railroad — sprang up with a depot, post office, church, and school. This board-and-batten mercantile, built in 1910, became the community's gathering place and for a time housed the post office. Its simple, sturdy design typifies the small-town general stores that anchored rural Texas commerce.
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Calhoun County came late to cotton—it sat outside the old plantation belt—until the Michot brothers built a gin south of Long Mott in the late 1880s. Early gins here used Robert S. Munger's continuous "system ginning," vacuuming cotton from wagons and pressing it into 500-pound bales. Production surged through the mid-20th century before rising costs and falling prices gutted the local cotton economy by the 1970s.
Preston Rose Austin (November 11, 1872-September 29, 1929)
Austwell, TX
A stock raiser turned developer, Preston Rose Austin joined the Refugio Land and Irrigation Company in 1902, ran agricultural experiments, and concluded the region was best suited to cotton. The company carved its landholdings into small farms sold to German and Bohemian settlers and founded the towns of Tivoli and Austwell—each equipped with church, school, store, and cotton gin—while financing a Missouri Pacific branch line that reached them by 1912.
Goldman Ginnery
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Adolph Goldman, a German immigrant who reached Texas in 1859 and served in the Civil War, settled in Victoria in 1865 and built a wide-ranging business empire. From the late 1880s he ran a cotton gin at this site, expanding it with rail access, warehouses, and new equipment until it averaged 3,000 bales a season. His sons carried the operation forward until fire destroyed the facilities in the early 1940s.