Christine , Texas
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Mary Ann Montanez and Amy F.M. Yates |
Fall, 2005 |
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R. Hines, Instructor |
More Histories of Small Towns in South Texas
Christine History
Every small town in
When we (Mary Ann Montanez and Amy Yates) first went
out to
In 1928, Mr. Walter Glick “Dick” Wiley decided to build himself a
stock tank with the help of his worker Mr. Juan Bosquez. Before they started digging, Bosquez noticed
three faint marks on a tree that had been made by a priest. One pointed to water, one of buried treasure
and the other indicated “many dead” (Sayers, 23-25).
According to Mrs. Willie Mae Wiley
Burrer, daughter of Wiley, Bosquez did not
want to dig, because a story had been handed down through the generations to
his family about the legend of Spaniards coming and settling somewhere in the
area. He was told the meanings of the
tree markings. Wiley and Bosquez went
to the site where the stock tank was to be built and Bosquez remembered the
stories that his family had verbally passed down to him.
As Bosquez cut into the bank, he
uncovered a granary that was 80 by 20 feet, and skulls came rolling
down. The Sheriff was then called. According to Mrs. Burrer, the Sheriff
thought Bosquez had committed the murders.
Wiley said that could not be true.
When they finished digging, they
found ruins of an old burnt fort, which was surrounded by a moat, silver
traces, a fireplace and more skeletons.
In all, they found 68 skeletons. It is believed that the Lipan Apaches massacred
those people. Included in the massacre
were babies who were not yet teething.
Some skeletons had arrowheads imbedded in their skulls, and one had an
arrow in its opened mouth. It is also
believed that the settlers were smelting ore.
The Archeologists from the
Some time ago Clement Hoyt, a
Houston Historian located a Spanish map of the early 1700’s where the Camino Real
crossed from the Frio River to San Antonio.
The map shows a forted island surrounded by a moat. “Across from the moat, there was located a
logged granary and a smelter” (Sayers, 23-25).
On March 25, 1988, two journalism
students (Clip Hurley and Pat Carmack) attending 
from the 
settlement in 1658.
Charles Franklin Simmons was born as
“Calvin Franklin Simmons in 
Simmons also
“attended
Charles was “one of the three sons
of Dr. M. A. Simmons who was the inventor of Dr. M. A. Simmons Vegetable Liver Medicine”
(Atascosa History Committee, “New Handbook of Texas,” Vol. 5. 1051). Charles later “purchased his father's
In 1906 Dr. Simmons purchased several ranches in
Atascosa and McMullen County which totaled 95,000 acres from 
Daniel and
heirs of Anton Oppenheimer and founded two town sites – New Artesia and New
Pleasanton (Atascosa County Deed Record Vol. 28, pg 115, and Vol. 29, page
158-168), (Atascosa History Committee, “The New Handbook of Texas,” Vol. 5.
1051). The land was subdivided into city
lots and small farm tracts in 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 and 640-acre
tracts. On February 12, 1906, Simmons
published a booklet named New Home, Sweet Home – A Home in Town and a
Farm in Country. Simmons advertised
in a magazine published in
95,000 acres in the ‘Garden Spot of the World’ is now being opened up
for the American people.” The doctor
quoted President Theodore Roosevelt as saying:
“
The ad stated the climate was “mild, balmy, healthy,
and practically free from Malaria, few frosts, no snow, no hard freezes,
continuous sea breeze, moderate extremes of heat and cold, producing warm
winter and cool summers” (Simmons Suckers Span the Globe, page 5-A).
Another
important piece of the ad stated there were “47 crops that adapted to
profitable culture.” Included in the
list of crops that would grow in Christine were: “olives, oyster plants, bananas, dates, figs,
lemons, oranges, apples, pears, tobacco, cauliflower, onions, Tabasco peppers
and alfalfa (Simmons Suckers Span the Globe, page 5-A). Dr. Simmons also went into detail describing
the earnings of some of the crops. He
also describes and tells of the Artesian wells that run through the creeks and
streams which was great for farming (page 5-A, Simmons suckers Span the
Globe). With these kinds of headings,
people were inevitably drawn. People
came from all over the
“Early
in 1910 a meeting was held for the purpose of electing temporary officers. The following were elected: Dr. J. W. Duncan, mayor; James Andrews,
Marshal; Calvin G. Bass, clerk and treasurer; J. A. Wilkins, M. B. Bailey, J.
P. Bunlegh, Green Franklin, and W. E. Reece, aldermen. L. C. Clark, H. B. Oliver, and Ben Youngblood
went to Austin with incorporation papers, and Christine was incorporated on October 22, 1910” (Atascosa
County History, 1996, 1051).
When these founding fathers went to 
already a town
named New Artesia in
With the
promotion of the town in 1906 and the Artesian Belt Railroad being built,
Christine exploded with many farmers and ranchers as well as merchants. There was a great demand for lettuce, spinach
and honey. Ranchers used the railroad to
ship their cattle to their destinations.
In those days, 100 cars of cattle were shipped daily, and Christine ranked
first in cattle shipment in the county.
In addition to shipment of cattle, there was also a need for water to be
shipped by train. Due to most of the
wells being loaded with salt and other minerals, the railroad was also used to
supply Christine with water from Poteet.
Many merchants started to set up their 
businesses.
Among the first 
were Frank Haecker who owned Haecker & Son, which
was a furniture, hardware and funeral supply store.
Other businesses were J. A. Wilkins Furniture
Store, The Kitchen Brothers Candy Shop, J. R. Decker’s Tailor and Barber Shop,
W. M. Swaim Livery Stables, Baumgart Meat Market, Hertzog Lumber Yard and The
Parsons Brothers large department store as well as Campbell and Franklin
Department Store. Mrs. George O’Neal operated the first café in a tent. Miss Annie Gillette, owner of the Owl Drug
Store, also housed the first post office operated 
by Mr. Wassenich.
In 1911, the first telephone was 
installed
and was operated by Miss Pallie Franklin as well as many others throughout the
years.
The train was not being used as much
when ranchers began having cattle auctions.
Farmers and ranchers started hauling their own produce and cattle to
market because of economic
reasons;
the cost was cheaper than having them shipped by train. This caused the railroad to die. When the railroad left, so did the
merchants. The merchants had no way to
have their merchandise delivered into or out of Christine. The consumers had moved, and there were not
many people to purchase the merchandise. 
Christine at
the present time has one gas station that sells groceries, one Mexican café
named Alice's Kitchen, and one beauty shop in a lady’s home. There is also a coal plant, which has made
jobs for many. It is located just south
of town on the Peelers Ranch.
People came to Christine mainly as farmers, but as
fast as the town grew, so did they realize that their dream paradise of south 
farmers moved from their town homes and to farmhouses.
In 1910 the first public school, which was held in a
tabernacle near the center of the town, was taught by Miss Willie Newman. “In 1911, a four-room frame building was
erected, and three teachers were employed, Mr. Mauldin and Misses Newman and
Godgion” (Atascosa County Centennial 1856-1956). “In 1936 the school had seven teachers and
175 students” (The Handbook of Texas Online).
The last class to graduate was in 1948 when the school closed, and
“students then went to
The town of 
first
denomination organized. The Methodists
succeeded in organizing as early as 1910 and thus fell heir to the building,
although Dr. Simmons died before it was finished.
In 1911, the
Baptists were organized by Rev. Henderson who served as a missionary in
this district until 1928. Their first meetings were held in the 
schoolhouse. Later, they remodeled a store building and
used it until 1923 when they built an up-to-date building (Atascosa County
Centennial 1856-1956).
“The 
The Catholic
Church was begun soon after people began moving to Christine. The church has a Catholic cemetery, which has
tombstones 
dating back to
the early 1900’s. There was a 
an
Assembly of God Church as well. The
people of Christine who are not Catholic can be buried in the
Christine
is almost a ghost town with a population of more than 463. It houses one gas station, one café and a
beauty shop. In addition, the
aforementioned coal plant is located just south of town that employs some
Christinians. A new
There was an annual homecoming that took place on
Go to Small Town in South
Texas
Interview with Bettie Seiffert
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