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Bellville
BELLVILLE, the county seat of Austin County since 1846, is located at the junction of Texas Highway 36 and FM 159, in the center of the county. Conveniently located in the heart of Texas, Bellville is a mere 64 miles from Houston, 104 miles from Austin and 55 miles from Bryan/College Station.
Thomas and James Bell emigrated from Florida in 1822 and settled in the area as some of Stephen F. Austin’s earliest Texas colonists. The Bell brothers gave 145 acres for a town that was laid out in 1848 and in turn, Bellville was born. Anglo-Americans settled here first followed by German immigrants.
In the winter of 1879-1880, the railroad (Gulf Coast & Santa Fe) arrived and brought people and prosperity as a commercial business center developed. By the 1880’s the population was heavily German and many cultural institutions of the ethnic group were functioning, including a German newspaper, the “Wochenblatt.” In 1897 the Pavilion (located at the intersection of Hwy. 529 & Amthor Street) was built by the German organization “Gut Heil (good health) Turneverein.” The Turnverein was a German cultural organization that promoted and fostered ethnic and cultural identity and served benevolent causes and the County Fair Grounds. In many places as in Houston, this group was responsible for new firefighting brigades.
The Bellville Turnverein, organized in 1885 and chartered in 1889, promoted gymnastics, fellowship, music, theater, singing, and dance. The Turnverein was responsible for the creation of the Turner Hall Opera House in 1889 and was so successful that crowds attending functions outgrew a mid-town facility. In 1895, a 14+ acre property (at the Amthor location) was bought from the “Bellville Social Club.” German architect Eugene Heiner designed a 12-sided pavilion and county craftsman Joachim Hintz was engaged in building the structure. In 1997, the building received a Recorded Texas Landmark designation.
Concordia Hall (located at 1030 Tesch Street) was built east of Bellville by the “Piney Concordia Gesang-Verein,” a German singing group organized in 1850. They regularly gathered for singing, meeting in the school until 1877 when they acquired two acres of land one mile east of Bellville. They dedicated a new building that same year and met there for 20+ years. The 1900 storm destroyed their facility, so they rebuilt ¾ miles south of Bellville (closer to most members’ homes). In 1938 the group changed its name to “Bellville Concordia Gesang-Verein.” They participated in statewide singing competitions with similar groups. For most of its history, Concordia was a male choral organization. The women formed an associate group and later merged. As the German Language declined after 1945 the singing groups faded and eventually dissolved. In 1997, The Bellville Lions Club obtained ownership of Concordia Hall, and today the building has a multifunctional use. The building received a Texas State Historical Marker in 1968.
