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The beginning of Rhineland and St. Josephs was in 1895 when Father Reisdorff and Hugo Herchenbach contracted to purchase a tract of land from J.C. League and George E. Mann of Galveston, TX for the purpose of a colony. One hundred acres was designated as a townsite and ten acres selected to be in one block to be donated to the Catholic Church and to be deeded to the Catholic Bishop. In 1927 the original church suffered a fire and was partially destoryed. Plans were started for the new structure were began. The building was designed by Rev. Boniface Spanke, O.S.B and is German-Gothic acchitecture. Work on the building was done by the parishioners. Much of the materials was donated. The building contains more than 80,000 handmade brick made in a small hand-operated machine that only made six bricks at a time. The machine is now on the church site and may be seen. The interior of the church is of the same Gothic design and has a beautiful Gothic alter which was hand carved by the Grier brothers, two German carpenters during the winter of 1900. It is a towering structure complete with lacey spires. While the building was begun in 1927, due to the depression and World War II, it was not completed until 1951. It is an extremely beautiful building and an active, well attended church. It is also the center of social activity for the area.
Thank you to Maxine Miller of Haskell for the clippings from Haskell Free Press and Abilene Reporter-News from which this was taken.
New photo by Wanda Irby.