Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) has landed in Quihi

On Sunday, May 5, 2024 at the Quihi Lutheran Church, the DRT installed it's newest chapter - The Quihi Settlers. The following is an excerpt from Lisa Schweers' speech at the recent DRT charter ceremony officially kicking off the Quihi Settlers chapter.

⭐️ Texas Impresario Henri Castro had already established his first colony on the banks of the Medina River in what became the city of Castroville. Most of those settlers were of the Catholic faith but Protestant families were also coming to Texas, so Castro looked further north to establish his second colony.

In October of 1844, he surveyed and platted the community of Quihi. The unusual name comes from a body of water called the Quihi Creek that ran through this area and fed Quihi Lake.

Folklore says the local Indian tribes of Comanche and Lipan Apaches called this place Keetchee, after a large population of birds known as the Mexican eagle, a large brown bird with white feathers on its tail and tips of its wings.

In the language of one of these tribes, the name of the bird was known as Keetchie. But Mexicans, the first white men to come to the area, spelled the word as Queetchie. The Germans, who came later, changed the pronunciation, and then the spelling of the CH to just an H so now we have the present form of Quihi.

Henri Castro‘s agent, Louis Huth, guided the first 10 families to this area in March, 1845 to establish the township. Laid out in the grid was an area designated for a Lutheran Church. The congregation remains today and many of the families in Medina County bear the old names of those who established the church known as Quihi Bethlehem.

Five years later, when the first US census for Texas and Medina County were taken in 1850, Quihi had grown to 16 families with 67 inhabitants. Since then, not much has changed to the area farm and ranch land. At one time this area boasted a two-story building that served as a courthouse and county seat for the fledgling Medina County. A blacksmith forge and a saloon also still stand and sometimes serve as a community watering hole and gathering place. Quihi claims the honor of having organized the first public free school in Medina County. The one-room schoolhouse known as the Lindeburg School, sits across the road from the Lutheran Church and has also served as a modern day voting poll for area residents. But perhaps this community’s crown jewel is the local Quihi Dancehall and gun club where folks come from across the state to dance twice a month to live Texas music.

A stone commemorating the founding of Castro’s second colony sits near Quihi Creek on County Road 4517, the same route which was originally traveled by settlers who came to the area.

Quihi may not have grown into the town that Henri Castro imagined because of its farther distance from major roads. But the Quihi Settlers who came here established families who stayed to carry on life and traditions and their ancestors are here today to carry on with a new chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

We honor our past and our ancestors, and as a new generation, we too, will Carry On.