History
Arneckeville
A native of Germany, Adam Christopher Henry Arnecke settled in this area in the 1850s and opened the community's first general store. Originally known as Zionsville, the settlement later was named for Arnecke. By the end of the 19th century, Arneckeville had blacksmith shops, doctors' offices, a cotton gin, post office, school, and a church, Zion Lutheran, that was organized in 1865.
History
Bellevue-Cheapside
Pioneer area settlers, many of English descent, acquired land at this site in 1876 for the establishment of a community church, school, and burial ground. A 2-story Woodmen of the World Lodge was also located nearby. Still used, Bellevue Cemetery has served residents of the Cheapside community (1.5 miles north).
History
Buchel Bank
Otto Buchel (1849-1909) came to Cuero in 1872, the year of city's founding; operated a mercantile business in partnership with George Seeligson. Buchel had the only safe in town, and within a year began keeping citizens' valuables. With addition of other services, he established a private bank on this site in 1873.
History
Buchel Community and School
Permanent settlers arrived in this area of Texas as early as 1839. A post office was established in 1842, two years after the first school opened near this site. In 1894, Cuero merchant and banker Otto Buchel (1849-1909) gave land at this site for a community school. The first schoolhouse constructed here was known as Oak View.
History
Burns Station Cemetery
Reminder of De Witt County's earliest settlement, Irish Creek, begun in 1826 when Arthur Burns (1780-1856) migrated from Missouri and Iowa to Texas. He joined colony of Green DeWitt and built a 2-story log home near here. Used as a refuge during Indian raids, the house was also visited by General Sam Houston, 1836. On Dec.
History
C. Eckhardt & Sons Building
Erected 1876. Had iron shutters, elevator, walls 25 inches thick. Housed general mercantile store begun by pioneer Caesar Eckhardt family in 1848, soon after founding of Yorktown. Wagons brought in goods from seaport of Indianola. Gold and silver hidden under potatoes were sent to San Antonio to purchase other supplies.
History
Cabeza
In the 1870s Joshua Butler from Virginia settled here on 2000 acres along Cabeza Creek. Soon John Riley and P. P. Short began large sheep and cattle ranches. Their children attended schools in Yorktown and Helena until a schoolhouse was built on Short's land. Later a public school opened here and served for Baptist and Methodist worship. A post office was begun in 1889.
History
Charles Goodwin Breeden
A native of Victoria, Charles G. Breeden came to Cuero at age 15 to work on the "Weekly Star" newspaper. He made Cuero his permanent home and became an influential business and civic leader. A prominent south Texas merchant, he was a partner in the Breeden Brothers Company and the Breeden-Runge Wholesale Company.
History
Clinton (Ghost Town)
Created in 1846, De Witt County was named for Empresario Green De Witt. The county seat, originally at Cameron, was moved in 1848 to the pioneer town of Clinton, named for De Witt's son. County government returned briefly to Cameron, but Clinton again served as the county seat from 1850 until 1876, when Cuero was named the seat of government.
History
Co-Founders of Yorktown: John York_Charles Eckhardt
John York (1800 - 1848) -- Charles Eckhardt (1813 - 1852) Soldiers and builders of Texas. York, born in Kentucky, came to Texas in 1821; was a captain in siege which expelled Mexican Army from Bexar, 1835. Gave site for Yorktown, 1847. Died in an Indian fight won by his men. Eckhardt came from Germany. Fought in war for Independence and Mexican War.
History
Concrete College
(1865 - 1881) One of most respected schools in Texas in its day. Founded by the Rev. John Van Epps Covey (1821-1898), noted educator and minister. Embraced primary through collegiate levels, accepting only students over 12 years old for college work.
History
Cuero
Founded 1873 with arrival of Gulf, Western, Texas and Pacific Railroad. County seat moved here from Clinton, 1876. Population grew after coastal storms of 1875 and 1886 destroyed Indianola and refugees from there made a new start here. Home of Turkey Trot, begun in 1912. Farming, ranching, oil and gas center.
History
Cuero I Archeological District
Extending 45 miles along the Guadalupe River Basin, Cuero I Archeological District was created to define and preserve cultural resources threatened by a proposed reservoir. Archeological investigation in 1972-73 revealed 352 significant prehistoric and historic sites spanning 9,000 years of human occupancy.
History
Cuero Land and Immigration Company
On December 25, 1871, Cuero Land and Immigration Company was formed to develop 4,128 acres of land from J. A. Valdez y Gonzales League (granted 1833 by Mexico). Company charter was issued Feb. 7, 1872. There were four founders and stockholders of C. L. I. C.: Gustav Schleicher (1827-1879), civil engineer and lawyer, surveyor of route of Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway and city of Cuero, U.
History
Daule School
Cuero Colored High School was founded in 1892 as the first African American school in Cuero. The building was a one-room wooden structure built on lot fourteen of the Morgantown addition to the city. Prior to the 1890s, schools for black children were available in the rural communities. A tax bond was passed to allow the first public school for black children to be built.
History
De Witt County
Created March 24, 1846 from Gonzales, Victoria and Goliad counties; organized July 13, 1846, with Cameron as the county seat. Named in honor of Green De Witt, a Texas Empresario born in Kentucky February 12, 1787. Died in Mexico, May 18, 1835.
Architecture
De Witt County Courthouse
De Witt County organized in 1846 with Cameron as the first seat of government. Clinton was county seat from 1850 to 1876, when its two-story frame courthouse was moved to the new seat of Cuero. That building burned in April 1894. The present courthouse was built from 1894 to 1896, designed by A.O. Watson and completed under supervision of Eugene Heiner.
History
De Witt County Monument
Included in the colonial grant in 1825 to Green De Witt, Texas Empresario, settled until 1840 largely by Anglo Americans. Created a county of the State of Texas March 24, 1846. Its area being taken from Gonzales, Victoria and Goliad counties. Organized July 13, 1846, with Cameron as the county seat, named in honor of its original grantee Green De Witt 1787-1835.
Architecture
Dempsey Benton Cain House
Mississippi-born Dempsey Benton "D.B." Cain (1869-1967) came to Texas circa 1880 and arrived in Yoakum in 1894. He married Emily "Emma" Bostick (1875-1918) of Yoakum, and they had five sons. After Emma's death, D.B. married Yoakum schoolteacher Watsie Lea Nowlin (1888-1972). In 1913, D.B. Cain's $8,000 residence on Grand Avenue, likely designed by local architect J.
History
Dr. William Watt White
(1829 - 1914) Surgeon of Waul's Legion, Confederate Army. Came to Texas about 1850. In 1856 got M.D. degree in Philadelphia. During Civil War, saved many lives, but took typhoid, which contributed to loss of his eyesight. After blindness, practiced rest of his life. Was local educational and civic leader, this county.
History
Early Texas Bandstands
This bandstand, successor to earlier ones in Cuero, is a replica of the first one erected in this park -- used for concerts, patriotic meetings, bazaars, ice cream socials, political rallies, street dances. Cuero musicians won renown as official band for the internationally famed "Turkey Trot," founded 1912 and opened that year with a parade led by Governor Oscar B. Colquitt.
History
Eckhardt Ranch House
Robert Christian Eckhardt (1836-87) came from Germany at 13 to join an uncle, Yorktown's co-founder. A merchant and father of 11 sons and daughters, he built this house in 1879, afterward commuting to his store. Eckhardt and his wife Caroline Kleberg (1840-1913) became the ancestors of a U.S. Congressman, authors, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other leaders.
History
Emil Reiffert House
Built in 1868 at Indianola by Emil Reiffert (1839-1910), immigrant at age 15; Confederate veteran; merchant, rancher, President H. Runge & Co., known as First Real Bank in Texas. Anchored to 7-feet. pillars. With 100 refugees upstairs, downstairs windows and doors open, house withstood its second hurricane, 1886. Was dismantled, its planks numbered, moved to Cuero, rebuilt 1887.
History
Eugene A. Daule
Eugene A. Daule (1860-1943) was born into slavery into St. James Parish, Louisiana. He attended Leland University in New Orleans and Prairie View State College, now known as Prairie View A&M University. Though the exact date of his arrival in Cuero is unknown, he was hired as a teacher for the Cuero Colored High School located on Lincoln Street in the late 1890s.
History
George Lord
George Lord was born in Essex County, England on April 21, 1816 to Felstead and Anna Siggs Lord. He immigrated to Canada in 1834 and worked there for two years. He then moved to New Orleans and joined other volunteers under a Capt. Lyons to serve in the military of the young Republic of Texas. They arrived in Galveston in 1837.
Elsewhere in Texas
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