Encinal Presbyterian Church

Encinal began as a rail stop. An 1882 railroad map shows only a place called Burro here, and a settlement called Ancaster may have stood nearby before the International-Great Northern laid track. The post office came in 1883, when the site had two or three frame buildings, and the town shipped sheep and cattle. By 1890 about 900 people lived here, many of them of Mexican descent, and it had three general stores. The first school opened in 1886 and a Catholic church followed in 1893, fifteen years before the Presbyterians organized.

What the plaque says

Encinal Presbyterian Church This church was organized in 1908 by the Rev. Dr. M. W. Doggett, an evangelist for the Presbytery of Western Texas. Two years later, during the supply pastorate of the Rev. Harry W. Hamilton, members constructed a church building at this site. A one-room frame sanctuary, it was built on property donated by local rancher T. A. Coleman. The Rev. Hamilton was later called as the regular minister and served the congregation until his death in 1940, a pastorate of 30 years. Until 1950 the church was the only Protestant fellowship in the community. (1980)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chaparral Wildlife Management Area — 18 mi
  A 15,200-acre South Texas brush country research tract in La Salle and Dimmit counties, open to the public in spring and summer, with a short accessible trail and a long ranching past.

More markers nearby

• John M. Ramsey — 17 mi
• Fort Ewell — 21 mi
• Coal Mining in Las Minas: San Tomas Coal Field — 33 mi