Weimar, Texas

The most heart-stopping story to come out of Weimar belongs to a young sailor named Johnnie David Hutchins, born here in 1922. He enlisted in the Navy from Houston in 1942 and became the helmsman of a tank landing ship,…

Weimar exists because of a handshake over railroad tracks. In the early 1870s the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway was pushing west across open Colorado County prairie, and a depot meant the difference…

Since you are passing through a town with a German name, settled by German and Czech farm families, here is a little of the language to carry with you. A friendly hello in the daytime is guten tag, which literally means…

Weimar is deep German and Czech farm country, settled by families who brought their pickling and their sauerkraut with them, and that heritage is exactly why a sour pickle is worth talking about here, because there is…

Once the railroad arrived, Weimar did what good rail towns did: it became a place to gather up the countryside's harvest and ship it out. The farms around town were worked largely by German and Czech immigrant families…

You're cruising through Weimar, Texas, a town that sprang to life in 1873 thanks to the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio rail line. This land itself has a deeper history, once part of the very first Anglo-American…

Weimar is a railroad town. That is why it is here at all — the line came through and the town arranged itself around it. That same geography is why a killer found it. In the spring of nineteen ninety-nine, Norman…

You're driving past Saint Michael's Catholic Church in Weimar, a testament to faith and craftsmanship. Established as a mission way back in 1888, it got its first resident priest, Father Edward Brucklin, just four years…

You're driving through Weimar, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Back in 1873, T. W. Peirce, president of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad, chose this spot. He partnered with D. W. Jackson,…

Kenneth 'Kenny' Konz joined the Weimar varsity as a freshman in 1943 and, with his older brother Max, led the Wildcats to their first undefeated season and first district championship. His teams went 31-3-1 with three…

Weimar's 1972 season, under coach Robert Gall, may be the strangest championship run in school history. The Wildcats went 0-5-1 in non-district play: a 6-6 tie with Ganado, a 20-18 heartbreaker against a Schulenburg…

Winning one state championship is what a small Texas town talks about for forty years. Weimar won two in the same school year. In 2003 the Wildcats took the UIL state title in baseball and the Weimar softball program…

Weimar built its ballpark the way small towns used to build things: the veterans did it themselves. Strickland Field went up at Veterans Memorial Park in nineteen forty-eight, and when the lights came on it was the…

Weimar dropped eleven-man football in 1939 for six-man — the wide-open small-school game on an 80-yard field where every player is an eligible receiver — and went 50-18-2 over eight seasons. The 1946 team under coach…

Weimar's first eleven-man district football championship came in 1960, under coach James Guyton, and it was decided the way it should have been: against Schulenburg, the arch-rival Weimar has played more than any other…

The 1963 Weimar Wildcats, under coach Edsel Nix, went 8-1-1 and put up scores that still look like typos: 94-6 over Shiner (confirmed in both the Nesbitt Memorial Library's compiled history and the Lone Star Football…

Weimar football has climbed out of the cellar more than once. In 1990 the Wildcats went 0-10 under Mike Gollahon and were outscored 474-75; two years later Kyle Taylor's 1992 team was back in the playoffs at 7-4,…

(December 30, 1812 - November 12, 1890) Born in New York. Moved to Texas 1829. Settled in Stephen F. Austin's second colony in 1832. In Texas Revolution, fought at Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Helped lay out town of…

You're driving past the Holman-Seifert Homestead near Weimar. John T. Holman, who arrived in Texas way back in 1837, built this house around 1875. He was quite the character – married three times and fathered eighteen…

You're driving past the Weimar Masonic Cemetery. Masonic Lodge No. 423 purchased two acres for this cemetery back in 1877. The burial ground was later combined with the adjacent I.O.O.F. Cemetery, and Weimar Cemetery,…

You're driving through Fayette County, heading towards a place called Dubina. The name itself means 'Oak Grove' in Czech. This spot was founded way back in 1856 by a determined group of Moravian immigrants, families…

You're driving past the site of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1886 by Reverend G. Geiger with just six families. They served two nearby communities, Content and New Bielau. In 1888, the congregation…

You're driving past the Osage Community Cemetery, a resting place for some of the Republic of Texas's earliest settlers. Look for monuments as old as 1860, ranging from sandstone to granite. Most notably, this cemetery…

You're driving past the site of Old Osage, a place that played a role in Texas independence and the Civil War. It started in 1820 as a trading post and ferry, operated by Jesse Burnam. That ferry was crucial for General…

You're driving past the Clear Creek Cemetery, established in the 1850s near the old Gonzales Road. It served as the main burial ground for the community, with the last recorded burial in 1929.

You're driving past the site of a groundbreaking Texas industry, right here in Borden. This was the beef canning plant and home built in 1872 by Gail Borden. Yes, *that* Gail Borden, the pioneer surveyor, newspaper…

You're driving past the site of Burnam's Ferry, the very first ferry in what is now Fayette County. About 1824, Jesse Burnam set up this crossing on the vital La Bahia Road, in a time when a river few men could swim…

You're driving past High Hill Cemetery, a final resting place for many German immigrants who settled this part of Texas. The community itself got its name from a post office established around 1858. This six-acre…

You're driving through Oakland, Texas, where for over thirty years, a beacon of education shone brightly for African Americans. This was the site of the Oakland Normal School, founded way back in 1882. For three…

You're driving through what used to be Prairie Point, a Texas town platted in 1856 by Mexican War veteran A.C. Hereford. It sits on land once surveyed by the famous James Bowie. Prairie Point was the second oldest…

You're driving past Lyons Lodge No. 195, A.F. & A.M.. Lyons Lodge No. 195, A.F.& A.M. began in the community of Lyons in 1856. The first meeting place was at a farm in the town.

You're passing through Schulenburg, a town that owes its existence to the railroad and a bit of German and Czech grit. In 1873, settlers from nearby Lyons and High Hill found a new home when the Galveston, Houston & San…

You're driving past the Strunk-Woolsey House, built around 1875. This home showcases the early Texas open-hall, or breezeway, style of construction. It was the residence of John Monroe Woolsey during his time as a…

From the outside, they look like plain wooden country churches on the flat Texas prairie. Walk through the door and you're standing in a miniature European cathedral. In the late 1800s, Czech and German immigrants in…

You're passing the Old Anderson Place at 510 South Main Street in Schulenburg, the oldest continuously occupied house in the area. It was built before 1857 by William B. Anderson, a carpenter, blacksmith, postmaster of…

Area's oldest occupied house. Built before 1857 by William B. and Rosetta Anderson, three of whose eleven children were born here. Anderson was a carpenter, blacksmith, postmaster in town of Lyons, justice of the peace,…

Schulenburg's 1991 state championship was set up by a heartbreak. In 1990 David Husmann's Shorthorns reached the Class 2A semifinals and lost a 41-36 shootout to Groveton, which went on to win the title. A year later…

Schulenburg repeated as Class 2A state champion in 1992, beating Goldthwaite 35-20 in the Astrodome to finish 15-1 — a win official enough that the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution about it, praising…

Schulenburg's football stadium is named David Husmann Memorial Stadium, for the coach who ran the Shorthorns from 1985 through the 1997 season: 139 wins in 13 seasons, the playoffs 11 times in those 13 seasons, three…

Schulenburg's first state football championship came in 1972, when Tom Walker's Shorthorns went 12-1-2 and beat the Clarendon Broncos 14-10 for the Class 1A title on December 22 at Brownwood's Municipal Stadium. It was…

From 1990 through 1994, David Husmann's Schulenburg teams went 69-6 with three perfect regular seasons and back-to-back state championships in 1991 and 1992. The 1994 team nearly made it three titles in four seasons:…

Billy 'Bill' Bucek was Schulenburg's first four-year football letterman, finishing with his senior season of 1955, when his Texas High School Football Hall of Fame bio credits him with 1,273 rushing yards and 17…

You're driving past Schulenburg, and right here is the story of a church that moved itself! Organized around 1871 as High Hill Missionary Baptist Church, the lumber for their first building was hauled by oxen three…

You're driving past the original site of Texas's very first oil mill, right here in Schulenburg. Back in 1866, Frederick Hillje built this place, adapting a German sugar beet crusher to process seeds. His mill grew,…

You're driving past the Navidad Baptist Cemetery, a quiet reminder of a town that vanished. Back in the 1840s, this area was the pioneer community of Lyons, established on land originally granted in 1831. By 1853, Seth…

You're driving past the United Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, right where the Swiss Alp community got its start around 1865. The Philadelphia Evangelical Lutheran Church was established soon after, meeting on land…

Schulenburg got its name in what amounts to a polite argument. In 1873 the railroad was laying track through southern Fayette County, and that spring it bought up the farm of Louis and Johanna Schulenburg, about 450…

Here is something you would never guess about a quiet farm town: for the better part of a century, Schulenburg built flying toys for children all over America. It started in the 1930s, in the teeth of the Depression,…

Schulenburg is the gateway to one of the most surprising sights in Texas, the Painted Churches, though most of them sit just outside town in tiny communities like Dubina, Ammannsville, Praha, and High Hill. From the…

The man who almost gave Schulenburg his own name was a former revolutionary. John Christian Baumgarten was one of the German Forty-Eighters, the idealists who fled Europe after the failed revolutions of 1848, and he…

You're driving through Schulenburg, Texas, where you might hear the nickname "Music Man" still echoing. That was Carl T. Morene, an immigrant's son who rose from orphan to Navy and WWI veteran, and eventually headed the…

You're driving through Fayette County, and right here is Schulenburg, a town that owes its name to two brothers who fought in the Civil War. William and John Upton both rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. John was…

You're cruising down I-10, and right here is Schulenburg, a town born from the railroad. In 1873, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway pushed through this land. A fellow named Louis Schulenburg donated the…

Just outside Schulenburg, you’ll find some of the most surprising buildings in all of Texas. They’re known as the Painted Churches. From the outside, they look like simple, white wooden churches you’d see anywhere in…

In Schulenburg, the dream of flight wasn't just for the birds. It was for two local brothers, Victor and Joe Stanzel, who turned a boyhood hobby into a world-renowned business. Victor used to stop plowing the family…

On Saturday the twelfth of November, 1960, a man in a green plaid shirt carried a military duffle bag into the Farmers State Bank in Schulenburg. He had a forty five caliber revolver. He left with four thousand eight…

One of Schulenburg's grandest old buildings was built for two appetites at once: drinking and dancing. In 1894 brothers Charles and Gustav Sengelmann put up the Two Brothers Saloon, and they stacked the town's social…

There's a Texas polka waltz called "Moon Over Moravia," and the Moravia it's named for is a Lavaca County hamlet about ten minutes out of Schulenburg — pretty much dead center between Houston and San Antonio. The store…

If the walls of Sengelmann Hall could talk, they'd probably sing a polka. Built in 1894 on Main Street, right across from the railroad tracks, it went up after fire destroyed the Sengelmann brothers' earlier saloon on…

If you’re driving on Interstate 10, you are experiencing the piece of engineering that redefined Schulenburg for the modern era. When this highway was built in the mid-20th century, it was a monumental undertaking of…

In 1831, the Mexican government granted 4,428 acres of land to Kesiah Crier, marking the beginning of European-American settlement in the area that would become Schulenburg. The town developed from two nearby…

There was a Catholic high school in Schulenburg called Bishop Forest. It opened on Ranger Drive in nineteen fifty-six, it closed in nineteen eighty-nine, and in between it turned out one of the most entertaining men in…

Schulenburg went from empty prairie to a real town at startling speed. The railroad arrived in 1873, the town incorporated just two years later in 1875, and by 1884, only about eleven years in, it was already humming.…

Baumgarten's Schulenburg Oil Mill, opened in 1883, hid a real chemical problem inside the cottonseed flour it sold, even if nobody in town had the word for it yet. Cottonseed is loaded with protein, which is why it…

You're cruising past the Gus Cranz Mansion in Schulenburg, a beautiful example of German craftsmanship. <break time="400ms"/> Built in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1874</say-as>, immigrant carpenters used…

You're driving through Fayette County, not far from where the town of Lyons once stood. It started on land granted to Keziah Cryer, but the town got its name from settler James Lyons. He was killed by Indian raiders…

You're driving past the site of a building that was the heart of Schulenburg for decades. Built in 1886 by Henry Bohlman for the Schulenburg Turnverein, a German gymnastic club, this was Turner Hall. More than just a…

You're driving past Schulenburg, and if you look closely, you might be seeing the area where Colonel William F. Upton made his home. He arrived in Texas way back in 1853, settling near High Hill. When the Civil War…

You're driving past the Lyons Family Cemetery near Schulenburg. James Lyons, originally from New York, brought his family to Texas way back in 1820. Life on the Texas frontier was tough. On October 15th, 1837, while…

You're driving past the area where William B. Bridgers lived, a true pioneer who arrived in Texas in 1824 as one of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 settlers. He fought in the Texas Revolution with Captain Alley's…

You're driving through Schulenburg, where Carl T. Morene left a lasting musical legacy. Born in 1887, he came here in 1928 to manage the local utility. When the school could no longer afford a music teacher in 1933,…

You're driving through Fayette County, near the community of Pecan, where a piece of German immigrant history lies. Eilert Brandt and his wife Sophie arrived from Germany in April of 1888, purchasing nearly 400 acres.…

You're driving past the site of Creuzbaur's Battery, known as 'The Big Guns of Fayette.' Organized in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as> by a former Prussian officer, this Confederate artillery unit of…

You're driving past Bermuda Valley Farm, and just off to your left, about fifty yards, is the site of a famous race track. It was laid out in 1889 by Dr. I.E. Clark, a physician and state senator who owned this land. He…

Prepare to be amazed by the Nativity of Mary, Blessed Virgin Catholic Church, a true architectural gem rising from the Texas countryside. This stunning church, located in High Hill, wasn't just thrown together; it was…

You're driving past the site of a Texas hero! Joseph Lawrence fought in the Texas War for Independence and was there at the Battle of San Jacinto, the fight that won Texas its freedom. Imagine the courage it took to…

Family-run Czech bakery on Highway 71 in Ellinger since 1912. Kolaches, klobasniky, and a roadside-store side hustle for travelers between Houston and Austin.

You're driving past a piece of Texas engineering history! This is the Bedstead Truss Bridge, built way back in 1888 by the King Iron Bridge Company. For decades, this 60-foot iron marvel was a vital link, connecting…

You're driving past Andrews Chapel Cemetery, a place with roots going back to the 1860s. It's named for A.G. Andrews, who donated land for a church and burial ground. Look for the grave of Alfred Morrow, a Mexican War…

You're driving past the Riesing Cemetery, established way back in 1872. It's recognized today as a Historic Texas Cemetery, with that designation given in 2005.

You're driving through Fayette County, and right here, near Ellinger, is the unmarked grave of Christian Gotthelf Wertzner. He was one of the very first German settlers in this area, arriving in Stephen F. Austin's…

You're driving through Ellinger, a community born from the railroad. Established in 1877 as a stop on the La Grange Tap spur, this town owes its existence to John H. Meyer and Henry Fordtran, who donated the land. The…

THE HACKBERRY COMMUNITY WAS ESTABLISHED BY GERMAN IMMIGRANT LUDWIG EDUARD NEUHAUS, WHO CAME TO TEXAS IN 1846, SETTLING IN NORTHERN LAVACA COUNTY. HE ENCOURAGED AND SPONSORED OTHER GERMAN IMMIGRANTS TO SETTLE IN…

You're driving through what used to be Hackberry, a community founded by German immigrant Ludwig Eduard Neuhaus. He arrived in Texas in 1846 and, seeing opportunity, sponsored his own brothers and other countrymen to…

You're driving past the Czech National Cemetery, or Cesko Narodni Hrbitov. This burial ground served early Czech settlers, many of whom were members of fraternal organizations like the Cechomoravan Lodge, formed right…

You're driving through Glidden, near the site of the Olive Branch Baptist Church and Rocky Chapel School. The church was established in the 1860s and moved here in 1896. The following year, the Rocky Chapel School…

You're driving past the site of James J. Ross's home, a key figure in early Texas settlement. <break time="400ms"/> Born in South Carolina around 1787, Ross arrived in Stephen F. Austin's colony in late 1822 or early…

That big gas station and store you see, Hruska's, is more than just a place to fuel up. It's a Texas institution and a story of family and adaptation. It started in 1912, when Frank J. Hruska opened a general…

The railroad tracks that cut through Ellinger are more than just tracks — they are the town's entire reason for being right here. The original settlement sat about a mile north of here and was called Live Oak Hill, a…

In a town of just a few hundred people, you might be surprised to learn that Ellinger supports not one, but two historic dance halls. These aren't abandoned relics; they are the living, breathing heart of the community.…

Ellinger's history is marked by its strategic location and the influence of the railroad. Originally named Live Oak Hill, the town was founded by Charles Ehlinger on land received by his father, Joseph, a French soldier…

Most towns grow and then get a railroad. Glidden was the other way around. In 1885 the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway bought a hundred and fifty-nine and a half acres here from a man named T. J. Oaks, and…

Glidden did not grow up around a courthouse or a river crossing. It was built to service locomotives, and for sixty years that was enough. The shops here were the major railroad maintenance stop between Houston and El…

You're driving past Glidden, a town born from the railroad boom. Before the tracks arrived, this area was a launching point for cattle drives north. Then, in 1882, T. J. Oakes sold land to the Galveston, Harrisburg &…

You're driving through Glidden, Colorado County, where a church has been a cornerstone of the community since the late 1800s. It started as a community church meeting in this railroad town as early as 1895. Then, in…

You're driving past the site of the Philadelphia Evangelical Lutheran Church in La Grange. This congregation has a long history, dating back to March 24, 1867, making it the second oldest in its synod. Imagine the early…

You're driving through Colorado County, just west of Columbus, and you're passing through Glidden. This town owes its existence to the railroad. It was founded in 1885 by the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio…

Once a bustling hub along the Southern Pacific Railroad, Glidden, Texas, has witnessed significant changes over the years. Established in 1885 by the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, the town thrived as a…

You're driving through Lavaca County, not far from where history was made. It's March 15th, 1836, and General Sam Houston and his Texas Army are on the move, retreating eastward from Gonzales. They cross Rocky Creek…

You're driving past the land where Marshall and Malinda Mitchell built their homestead. Marshall, a carpenter and winemaker, and Malinda, a teacher, were descendants of Bankston Mitchell, who was born enslaved in…

You're driving through Shiloh, a community born from a journey. In the 1850s, about thirty families packed up and moved here from Mississippi, naming their new home Shiloh after their old church. They were mostly…

You're driving past Shiloh Cemetery, a final resting place for the early settlers of this community. The first marked burial here was Frederick Schmidt Muller in 1897, though unmarked graves predate that. Many…

You're driving past Ellinger, where Czech and German immigrants settled in the 1850s. They first worshipped in a log church, Saint Joseph, built around 1855, the first permanent Catholic church in Fayette County. The…

One of the oldest and most famous brothels in the United States, operating from the 1840s to 1973. Shut down by a Houston TV reporter. Inspired the musical 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.'

You're driving through Fayette County, heading past the site of the oldest Czech settlement in Texas. In November of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1856</say-as>, three families arrived here from Czechoslovakia.…

Columbus High School (Columbus, TX): Most recent: 48-14 over Malakoff · 2024 3A Division 1 final.

On October 17, 1952, Columbus met Giddings, the defending Class A state champion. Giddings had gone 15-0 in 1951, beaten Columbus 40-0 along the way, and had not lost a game in about two years — a winning streak of 21…

In the 1993 Class 3A state quarterfinals, Columbus and Waco Robinson were tied 12-12 with under six minutes to play. Texas high school football had no overtime until the 1996 rules change; a playoff tie was broken on…

Columbus High School fielded its first official football team in 1926, coached by school superintendent James Harbert Wooten. With no field to play or practice on and a roster new to the game, the team cancelled its…

In 1946 Columbus went 10-1-1 behind the passing combination of back Ernest Baumgart Jr. and end Johnny Mach, all-district three straight years. Needing to stay ahead of Schulenburg in District 33-B's south zone,…

From 1976 through 1979, Carl Andress's Columbus teams went a combined 33-6-1 and never played a playoff game, because until 1982 only the district champion advanced. 1976: 9-1, ranked eighth in the state, the lone loss…

You're driving past the Hebrew Benevolence Society Cemetery in Columbus. It might surprise you to learn that despite its name, this cemetery was never actually affiliated with any specific Hebrew Benevolent Society. It…

You're driving past St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, established around 1854. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008.

For a town of a few thousand people, Columbus has thrown a remarkable number of players into the NFL, and most of them share a last name. Aaron, Matt and Bo Schobel all came up through Columbus High School as Cardinals…

You're passing the site of a man who wore many hats in early Texas. Colonel Joseph Worthington Elliott Wallace, originally from Philadelphia, first served as the U.S. Consul to the colonies here. Then, he joined Stephen…

You're driving through Columbus, Texas, right where history happened during the Texas Revolution. Look around – you're passing the site where a division of General Santa Anna's army, led by General Joaquín Ramírez y…

You're driving past the marker for Christian G. Wertzner, a man who truly put down roots in Texas. He fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, a key victory in the Texas Revolution. But that's not all – Wertzner was also…

You're driving past Columbus, and right here, you're passing the final resting place of the Reverend Jacob Scherer. Born in North Carolina in 1785, Scherer moved to Texas in 1851. He's credited with founding the first…

You're driving past the Columbus Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, a place with a history as turbulent as the Colorado River nearby. In July 1871, land was deeded for this cemetery, and it quickly became the final resting…

You're driving past Geiger Cemetery. Near this site was a town once known as Strunksville. It consisted of a store, post office, saloon and a horse and mule gin owned and operated by one of the first settlers of the…

In Columbus, the Schobel name hangs over a restaurant on Milam Street and runs through the Cardinals' football history. In nineteen seventy nine, brothers Bob and Andy Schobel and their wives, Mary Jane and Donna,…

You're driving through Colorado County, where a bloody feud tore apart the town of Columbus. It all kicked off in 1898 with a sheriff's election. When a political boss switched his support, the endorsed candidate was…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here is where George Glenn, a black traildriver, undertook an incredible journey. After accompanying his employer, Robert B. Johnson, on a cattle drive to Kansas in…

You are in Colorado County, where in April of eighteen thirty-seven Judge Robert McAlpin Williamson, better known as Three Legged Willie, opened the first term of district court under the new Republic of Texas. The…

You're driving through what is now Colorado County, near Columbus. Back in the 1820s, this was the edge of the frontier. Rawson Alley, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arrived here from Missouri in 1821.…

You're driving through what was once the heart of the Texas Revolution, and right here, a young man named Sion Record Bostick was making history. Born in Alabama in 1819, he arrived in Texas as a boy and was barely 17…

You're driving through what was once the Republic of Texas, and right here, in Columbus, you're passing through the stomping grounds of Dr. John Henry Bowers. Arriving in Texas in 1836, Bowers was on his way to join the…

You're driving near Columbus, Texas, right on the Colorado River. Back in the 1820s, this was the frontier, and James Cummins was one of Stephen F. Austin's first settlers, the Old Three Hundred. He was granted land…

You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, and right here, near Columbus, is where Daniel Gilleland and his family made their stand. In 1821, Gilleland was part of the vanguard of Austin's Colony,…

You're driving near Columbus, Texas, a place that saw a dramatic end for one of its prominent citizens. Claiborne C. Herbert was a wealthy planter and a Texas state senator just before the Civil War, even voting to…

You're driving through what is now Colorado County, near Columbus. Back in November 1821, a man named James Nelson arrived on the schooner Lively, ready to build cabins and farm for Stephen F. Austin's new colony. He…

You're driving through Columbus right now, a town that became a beacon of hope thanks to Julia Bullard Nelson. After losing her husband and son in Minnesota, Julia, a teacher, felt called to help newly freed Black…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here, Washington Hampton Secrest was granted land back in 1838. But Secrest wasn't just a settler; he was a scout and a ranger during the Texas Revolution, often working…

You're driving through Colorado County, Texas, where John Samuel Shropshire once lived. He was a lawyer and a Confederate officer who moved to Columbus in 1854. Though he owned slaves and a large plantation, he…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here is Columbus, where George Washington Smith made his home. He was a prominent lawyer and judge, even serving on the Texas Supreme Court. But his career took a sharp…

You're driving through Columbus, a town whose history is tied to Joseph Worthington Elliot Wallace. After serving in the Seminole War and Mississippi militia, Wallace came to Texas in 1830. He joined Stephen F. Austin's…

You're driving through Colorado County, the birthplace of Alvin Jacob Wirtz. Born right here in Columbus back in 1888, Wirtz became a lawyer and a state senator. But his biggest impact? He was the driving force behind…

You're driving through Columbus, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1821. It started as Beeson's Ferry, named after Benjamin Beeson who ran a ferry across the Colorado River. Stephen F. Austin himself…

William Bluford DeWees, pioneer settler and public official, was born in Virginia on September 8, 1799. He first visited Texas on a keelboat excursion up the Red River in 1819. In late 1821 he accompanied a group of…

You're driving through Colorado County, Texas, not far from Columbus, where Alexander Hamilton Davidson made his home. He was a wealthy lawyer and landowner, but when Texas debated secession in 1861, Davidson initially…

You're driving through what is now Colorado County, and right here is where Bettie Munn Gay managed a 1,700-acre farm after her husband died in 1880. But she wasn't just a rancher. She was a fierce advocate for farmers…

You're driving through Columbus, Texas, a town that owes much of its medical history to Dr. Robert Henry Harrison. He arrived here in 1869, but after some additional training in Alabama, he returned to Columbus and…

You're driving through Colorado County, Texas, where George McCormick built a life after serving the Confederacy. He enlisted in 1861, fighting in Waul's Legion. During the Battle of Harrisburg in July 1864, McCormick…

You're driving through Colorado County, the heart of Texas cattle country, but did you know this area was also home to a man who shaped education policy across the state? James Harvey McLeary settled here in the late…

You're driving through Freestone County, near Columbus, where Timothy Dargan Nettles answered the call to arms. On August 17, 1861, he enlisted as a private in a cavalry unit that would soon head west for the…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here is where Robert Jones Rivers, a renowned Texas attorney and judge, settled in the late 1840s. He was famous for his incredible speaking ability, though sadly, most…

You're driving through Colorado County, not far from Columbus, where Dr. Charles William Tait made his home. He wasn't just any planter; Tait was a physician, a civil engineer, and even served in the Navy and the…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here is where Asa Townsend decided to put down roots. He arrived in 1838 with his wife and nine children, traveling all the way from Florida by oxcart. Townsend became a…

You're driving through Columbus, the home of the Colorado County Citizen newspaper. It was founded way back in 1857 by James Davis Baker. This paper wasn't just local news; it was a player in history. It supported Sam…

You're driving through Columbus, Texas, a town that became home to William Shelby Delaney in 1860. He'd already served as a lawyer and teacher back in Kentucky and Tennessee, but here in Texas, his career took a turn.…

You're driving through Colorado County, and right here in Columbus is where James Richard Fleming landed after the Civil War. He fought under Nathan Bedford Forrest before coming to Texas in 1867. He bought the Columbus…

You're driving through what is now Colorado County, near Columbus, where Robert Levi Foard made his home. Foard was a lawyer who answered the call to defend Texas during the Civil War. He enlisted as a first lieutenant…

You're driving through Columbus, Texas, the birthplace of George McCormick, Jr., a name you might not know, but his work kept Texas rolling. Born in 1872, McCormick became a railroad engineer and inventor, graduating…

You're driving through what is now Colorado County, and right here is where John H. Pinchback carved out his life in Texas. Arriving in 1836, he and his brother James quickly got land grants. By 1840, John was already a…

You're driving past La Grange, where a significant piece of Czech-Texan history unfolded. On March 24, 1889, a group of Czech immigrants gathered right here to form the Katolicka Jednota Texaska, or the Czech Catholic…

Columbus got so violent that the town gave up on governing itself. It started with a sheriff's race. On August 3rd, 1898, Larkin Hope — a constable, and the favorite to win — was shot dead in downtown Columbus by an…

Imagine the town square, not quiet like today, but filled with gunfire. In the late 1800s, Columbus was the scene of a bloody feud between the Staffords and the Townsends, two prominent cattle families. The violence…

In the spring of 1836, Columbus was a scene of terror and resolve. Sam Houston’s Texan army was retreating eastward from General Santa Anna’s forces, and the families of Columbus were right in their path. This was the…

In July of 1867 Caleb Claiborne Herbert took a room at the Bonds Hotel on the south side of the courthouse square. He was a planter, a former state senator, and he had just spent the war representing Texas in the…

The Stafford Opera House has stood in Columbus since 1886. In its day it sat a thousand people and booked the big touring names — Harry Houdini worked that stage. Then time did what time does, and the place fell apart:…

As you pass through Columbus, it's hard to miss the big brick building on the courthouse square, the one with the fancy two-tone brickwork and arched windows. That's the Stafford Opera House, and it's a survivor.…

As you drive along I-10 near Columbus, look out your window. You'll see huge ponds and massive piles of sand and rock. This isn't just dirt; it's the foundation of modern Texas, and it's a story of geology and…

By the Colorado County courthouse in Columbus stands a marker to a tree. Every guidebook will tell you this is where the Republic of Texas opened its first district court in this county, in April of eighteen…

You're driving past the site of the Brookfield-Evans-Cremer House, a place that saw some serious Texas history unfold. It all started back in 1835 when Samuel Brookfield bought this land. He died at the Alamo the very…

The county keeps a running list of its killings, and reading three of them in a row tells you more than any one of them does. The eighteenth of August, 1879: James Hitchfeldt stands inside a butcher shop in Columbus and…

You're driving past Columbus' Old City Cemetery, a resting place for some of the earliest Texans. The oldest headstone here dates back to 1853, but the city acquired this seven-acre site as an existing graveyard in…

Columbus, Texas, has always been a place where the past feels close. The Colorado River still winds its way through the landscape, just as it did when the town was first chartered. Highway 90 cuts right through the…

A surveyor named this town for Christopher Columbus back in eighteen thirty-seven, so the man's voyages are fair game — and this is the best story in them. It is not the first voyage. It is the fourth, and it went…

This town carries Christopher Columbus's name, courtesy of a surveyor in eighteen thirty-seven, so let's clear up the thing most people get backwards about him. The old story says everyone thought the world was flat and…

Since this town was named for Christopher Columbus, here is what happened to the ship everybody can name. The Santa María did not come home. On Christmas Eve of fourteen ninety-two, off the north coast of Hispaniola,…

The name of this town honors Christopher Columbus, so here is the part of his life that does not make the school pageant. Finding the islands was the easy half. Spain also made him governor of them, and at governing he…

Here is a tangent worth having in a Texas town named Columbus. In four voyages across twelve years, Christopher Columbus never set foot on the mainland of what would become the United States. Not once. Trace where he…

You're driving through Colorado County, a place that's been on the map since the very beginning of Texas. This land was part of Stephen F. Austin's First Colony, and the county itself was officially created on March 17,…

You're driving past the Columbus area, home of Exum Philip Whitfield, a man who wore many hats from 1858 to 1887. He was a business leader, merchant, physician, and farmer. Whitfield also served as president of the…

You're driving past Freyburg Methodist Church. Services began in the late 1860s, with this sanctuary built in 1879. It's a fine example of an open Gothic style church, and it still serves the community today.

You're driving past the Freyburg United Methodist Church Cemetery, established in 1880. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2005.

You're driving past the site of a remarkable act of loyalty and bravery. George Glenn, born into slavery in 1850, became a skilled ranch hand and trail cook. In 1870, he accompanied his employer, Bob Johnson, on a…

You're driving past the site of a Texas original: Robson's Castle! Robert Robson, a Scottish immigrant, built this incredible concrete castle right here in 1839. Imagine running water, a roof garden, and even a moat…

You're driving past the Kaiser Cemetery, a final resting place for German immigrants who settled this Brushy community. Ludwig Frederick Kaiser and his wife Anna deeded this land for a school and cemetery in 1859.…

You're driving past the former home of Ben Marshall Baker, a man who shaped Texas news for half a century. He and his brothers founded the 'Colorado Citizens' newspaper right here in Columbus back in 1857. When the…

You're driving past the Bartels-Wirtz House in Columbus, a beautiful Victorian cottage built around 1886. Look for its unique star-tracery gable window and delicate bargeboard trim. Anton Bartels, a German immigrant…

You're cruising past the homesite of Fannie Baker Darden, the self-proclaimed 'Poet Laureate of Columbus.' Born in 1829, she was the daughter of a hero from the Texas War for Independence. After marrying an attorney and…

You're passing the Townsend-West House, a real Victorian jewel right here in Columbus. Built in 1890, it's a stunning example of Eastlake style architecture. This house has seen some Texas history! It was home to Marcus…

You're driving past the Maigne-Walther House, built in 1869 by Charles Mainge. Notice the raised cottage style with its parapeted balustrade. The house, constructed with pine siding and floors, cypress interior walls,…

You're driving past the site of a carriage step on Prairie Street in Columbus. These stone blocks were a courtesy for guests stepping out of carriages and a symbol of prominent families. The step here, at the former…

You're driving past Salem Memorial Cemetery, established in 1870. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2006.

One mile south of La Grange, on a limestone bluff above the Colorado River, there is a monument. Buried beneath it are the remains of men from Fayette County — men who died in one of the most dramatic episodes in Texas…

On a high bluff a mile south of La Grange, two very different stories share the same patch of ground. Up top is Monument Hill, the solemn common tomb of Texans killed in the 1840s. And just down the slope is where a…