A congregation formed in 1847 with the founding of D'Hanis Colony by settlers from Alsace, France. In 1853, when the town became a mission parish, a limestone church was built using timber hauled by ox-wagon from the Medina River. A sandstone extension was built in 1868 upon the arrival of the first resident pastor, but it was abandoned after 1914 when a new church was built in "New" D'Hanis, 1.5 miles west. The cemetery dated from the burial of a colonists' child in 1847 and was used until 1893, when a new cemetery was started following a diphtheria epidemic.