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Welcome to Stop 15 of the Rales, Bales and Bluebonnet Trails historic downtown Ennis walking tour. The Ennis post office opened in 1872 with J. M. Dickson as the postmaster and railroad agent. Railroad and cotton prosperity supported another important aspect of Ennis’s social development, namely its religious institutions. In an effort to reduce the “wild west” chaos of the new town many of the pioneer families banded together to establish churches and to eliminate saloons and lawlessness. The railroad encouraged this stabilizing social force by donating land and funds for churches and social service activities. From this corner at McKinney Street you can see the edge of the city’s early church district. The Victory in Him Ministries now sits on the site of the original Tabernacle Baptist church. On the northeast corner of Knox and McKinney Streets sat St. Thomas, the first Episcopal church that burned in 1920. Across McKinney Street the new federal post office took the place of the Rowe cotton gin in 1915.