Cottage Hill

Saint Hedwig, Texas, is located on Farm Road 1346, approximately eighteen miles east of San Antonio in Bexar County. Its approximate coordinates are 29° 25' N 98° 13' W.

In December 1854 immigrants from Upper Silesia in Prussian Poland began arriving in South Central Texas. They came without the organization, funding, land grants, or transportation provided by a patron. One group of thirteen Polish families established a Silesian community near the historic San Antonio to Gonzales Road in the post oaks area east of San Antonio in Bexar County. Near the confluence of the Martinez and Cibolo creeks, the Silesian immigrants purchased 777 acres of Charles G. Napier’s plantation. Joseph N. Dornstin (whose name is often recorded as John Dornstyn), a Polish expatriate living in the area, helped as a translator and witnessed the recordings of the Silesian land purchases. Within a few months of purchasing land, the settlers registered their cattle brands with the Bexar County clerk. They cleared land and built log cabin structures for their homes and a community chapel. The Silesian community was officially recognized as “Martinez” and informally as “Polanderville” or “Polander Settlement.” Early census records indicate that they were primarily farmers and ranchers.