Nelsonville Nelsonville is at the junction of Hwy 159 and FM 2502, nine miles west of Bellville in west central Austin County. The area was first settled in the 1850s. Among the first settlers was Edward Daughtry, who moved to the site around 1855. The town was named for D. D. Nelson, who opened a store just after the Civil War. Around the same time Isaac Lewis established a store and saw and grist mill and later added a cotton gin. Originally settled by Anglo-American plantation owners in the late 1830’s, Germans followed. At the Civil War’s end, plantations were sold as smaller farmsteads to immigrants from Bohemia and Moravia and more from Germany. Nelsonville’s youth were tri-lingual being
fluent in English, German and Czech. The Czech Moravian Bretheran Church congregation was formed in 1893 and church was built in 1947 under the leadership of Rev. Josef A. Barton and is a community landmark. By 1900 the population was 158. The post office was discontinued in 1909, and by the early 1930s the population had dwindled back to 100. The community reported five businesses as late as 1936, but thereafter most of them closed. In the early 1990s Nelsonville was a farming community with a reported population of 110. The population remained the same in 2000.
New Ulm the province from which most early inhabitants had originally emigrated. During the 1850s the agricultural community had six general merchandise stores, five blacksmith shops, three breweries, three cabinetry shops, and a cigar factory. During this period local residents organized both a turnverein or athletic club, and a Schützenverein, or rifle club, the members of which sported light green uniforms. New Ulm had 225 residents in 1898. By 1930 its population had grown to 500, and the number of businesses had increased to forty, including a bank and an English-language newspaper, the New Ulm Enterprise which began publishing in 1910. On April 11, 1916, twenty-one men in the community met for the purpose of securing fire apparatus to protect local property. That led to the formation of the New Ulm Fire Company (now known as the New Ulm Volunteer Fire Department). The population declined to an estimated 390 by 1950. Growth resumed, however, during the 1960s, and by 1968 the population was estimated at 600, and New Ulm had sixteen businesses. In 1990 the population was estimated at 650 NEW ULM is one of the premier German settlements in Texas. There’s a lot of history for such a small and tranquil place. Richard King of the King Ranch passed through New Ulm and tried his hand at cigar manufacturing before heading south and in the 1920s a New Ulm store was burgled by none other than one of the Newton Boys, although no one can seem to remember which one. New Ulm, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway line at the intersection of FM 109 and 1094, in extreme western Austin County, was first known as Duff ’s Settlement, in honor of James C. Duff, who in 1841 acquired title to the tract on which the town was founded. The community’s growth was spurred after 1845 by an influx of German-speaking settlers from nearby communities such as Industry, Shelby, and Nassau Farm. In 1852 a post office was opened in the settlement, which became known as New Ulm in commemoration of the well-known city in Würtemberg, Germany,
ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH - The sanctuary was built in 1913 and is located at 211 Hickory Street. The Sanctuary serves the congregation still today. All that remains of the New Ulm Cemetery 1924 fence located at Hwy 109 & Kingfiher Rd. is a decorative gateway. There were enough surviving 19th century buildings to get New Ulm featured in Texas Public Buildings of the 19th Century by Williard B. Robinson, a favorite reference of ours. Winding country roads alive with nature brings you into New Ulm where many historic structures have been restored, some serving as antique or specialty shops plus a very unique commercial cottage garden. It is a picturesque place to browse on the weekends for those superlative gifts that are distinctive and one of a kind.
Austin County
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