Yoakum, Lavaca County
On 50-acre site donated 1868 for church and school purposes by John H. and Stephen Dunn, in large Irish and Czech Catholic area near the post road trading station of Bovine. It was 1876-1912 Church of St. Joseph's Parish, founded in 1860s by Father John Anthony Forest (1838-1911), third bishop (1895-1911), Diocese of San Antonio. Parishioners built church 1869-76 of stone from Muldoon, East Texas milled pine, and hand-hewn logs. Blacksmiths made nails and hinges on the site. Floor was of hard-packed, mortared clay. On August 26, 1912, last Mass was said here; church burned in 1932. (1973)