Historical Markers in Lavaca County
Texas·92 places·Page 3 of 4
History
Sam and Will Moore Institute
Name honors brothers who gave site and half costs of building; the community matched their donation. Architect: H. Struve. Contractors: Joel Meyer & Co. Order of Sons of Hermann laid cornerstone July 31, 1901, in a gala celebration including a parade, band concert, barbecue, ball, and orations in English, German, and Czechoslovakian. North wing was added in 1923. Building still houses school.
History
Sam and Will Moore Institute Bell
At institute's opening (1901), this bell rang the school day hours and soon became town's fire alarm. Its proudest day of civic use was November 11, 1918, when it sounded news of the armistice ending World War I. Discarded in 1939, it was restored in 1973. Incise on base: Erected by ex-students and friends.
History
Sarah Creath McSherry Hibbens Stinnett Howard
SARAH HOWARD SUFFERED MUCH AT THE SAVAGERY OF THE TEXAS WILDERNESS. BORN IN ILLINOIS, SARAH CAME TO TEXAS WITH HER HUSBAND, JOHN McSHERRY, IN 1828. THE NEXT YEAR, JOHN WAS KILLED NEAR THEIR HOME BY INDIANS. SARAH LATER MARRIED JOHN HIBBENS, BUT INDIANS TOOK THE LIVES OF JOHN AND SARAH'S BROTHER NEAR THIS SITE. SARAH AND HER TWO SONS WERE TAKEN CAPTIVE, AND SHE ALONE ESCAPED.
History
Shiloh Cemetery
Located between Schulenburg and Hallettsville, the first pioneer settlers in the Shiloh community were of English and Scots/Irish descent who immigrated to South Carolina and then Mississippi seeking warmer climates and economic opportunities. They settled here where timber and fertile land were abundant and named the area Shiloh after the settlement they left in Mississippi.
History
Shiloh Community
Settlement of this area of Lavaca County began in the 1850s, when a group of about thirty families relocated here from Mississippi. The settlers named their new community Shiloh in honor of the church they had left in Mississippi. The majority of the new settlers were Methodists, and they soon built a combination church and school building.
History
Shiner
Originated as German-Czech community of Half Moon, located west of present town. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad came through in 1887, citizens moved to rail line, where H. B. Shiner, Victoria landowner, had given a townsite. Shiner was developed by cattlemen. Industries include brewery, wire works. City has museum.
History
Shiner Brethren Church
Shiner Brethren Church Emigrants from Bohemia and Moravia, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, came to the Vlastenec area, about four miles south of Shiner, in the mid-1880s. Most came from rural areas and were of the Brethren faith, and wanted to establish a new church in a rural setting.
Entertainment
Shiner Opera House
William Wendtland (1856-1951) and Louis Wagener (1855-1936) built this structure in 1895. William Koch (1857-1928) enlarged the building with a rear addition in 1915. "The Opera House Saloon" and later other businesses occupied the lower floor. The opera house, located on the top floor, was the site of theatrical productions, social gatherings, dances, political rallies, and lodge meetings.
History
Shiner-Welhausen Homestead
Henry B. Shiner purchased this land in 1875 for his cattle raising enterprise. In 1887, when the railroad was built through the area, he donated land for a townsite, which was later named in his honor. Although the homestead was sold to Charles Welhausen in 1884, the Shiner family continued to reside here until 1890.
History
Site of Baursville School
Early settlers August Baur (1841-1902) and his wife Emilie (1848-1901) donated five acres about 1.5 miles north of this site for a community school in 1881. A one-room school building was erected shortly thereafter.
History
Site of Bunjes School
On June 25, 1886, H.J. Strunk, a resident of Colorado County, Texas, sold five acres of land for use as a school and cemetery to the Shinerville School community, originally named for area landowner H.B. Shiner. Residents funded, built and staffed the new schoolhouse, shipping lumber in from Flatonia (20 mi. NW) and assisting in carpentry work. They soon renamed it Shiner School No.
History
Site of Komensky School
Citizens of the Czech/German Woods Prairie settlement created a fund and hired a carpenter in 1895 to build a community school. By fall 1895 a one-room schoolhouse, named for 17th century Czech (Moravian) educator and religious leader Jan Amos Komensky, was built here on land owned by Emanuel Breitschoff. Student enrollment reached 107 in 1900 and in 1901 the school was enlarged.
History
Site of Moore Hotel
William J. and Mary O'Daniel Moore moved to Texas from Alabama with their family in 1845, and settled in Lavaca County in 1853 on 500 acres. Moore was a farmer and raised livestock. Their son Samuel B. Moore also became a farmer and rancher. In the 1860s, Samuel and his brother William Moore bought 12,000 acres of land now lying between the towns of Moulton and Shiner.
History
Site of Moravia School
Many Czech and German immigrants settled in this area of South Texas in the 1870s. Moravia was a Czech farming community that included homes, a Catholic church, businesses, and a school. The first school in the Moravia community was a one-room structure located about one mile northwest of this site. Students attended classes on a tuition basis.
History
Site of Oak Grove School
According to local tradition, Oak Grove School was established as early as 1882 and named for a grove of post oak trees located near the school's original one-room building. The school, which probably offered primary through eighth grade instruction, stood on property owned by August and Ernestine Wenske.
History
Site of the Alma Male and Female Institute
As early as the 1840s, area residents could send their children to the few small private schools available. In 1852, when Hallettsville was chosen as Lavaca County seat, the town founder, Margaret Hallett, donated land for the town site, county courthouse, a church and a school. A joint stock company established the Alma Female Institute on the school property, located on this site.
History
Site of the Camp of the Texas Army
March 15, 1836 under the command of General Sam Houston while retreating from Gonzales to the Brazos River. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
SPJST Velehrad Cemetery
Residents of the Velehrad community, who were mostly immigrants from Moravia, created this cemetery to serve their burial needs. Filip Bucek, a Czech resident of the community, envisioned the idea of creating a national cemetery, but he passed away in 1877 before the burial ground was established. Family tradition says Filip was buried in Praha and later reinterred here.
Industry & Science
Spoetzl Brewery
Built by the Shiner Brewing Association, a stock company of local men. Sold in April 1915 to Kosmas Spoetzl (1873-1950), native of Bavaria and former operator of a brewery in Cairo, Egypt. This plant remained open in 1918-33 (prohibition era), making "Near Beer" and ice. The owner's daughter, "Miss Cecelie", joined staff in 1922. (She became only woman in U.S.A.
History
St. James' Episcopal Church
The community of Hallettsville began in 1836, when Margaret Hallett donated land for the townsite. By that time, there were several families living in the area, and settlement increased throughout the 19th century. In July 1875, Gen. Arthur Pendleton Bagby and his wife Frances (Taylor) asked the Rev. Thomas J.
History
St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery
CATHOLICS IN THE BRUSHY COMMUNITY, WHICH WAS A RURAL SETTLEMENT THAT DEVELOPED BEGINNING IN THE 1830s ALONG THE BRUSHY AND SUPPLE JACK CREEKS, FIRST ORGANIZED A CHURCH AROUND 1847, BUILDING A LOG SANCTUARY. HOWEVER, IT WASN'T UNTIL 1869 THAT, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF FATHER JOHN ANTHONY FOREST, THIRD BISHOP OF THE SAN ANTONIO DIOCESE, AREA CATHOLICS BEGAN TO BUILD THE ST. JOSEPH PARISH.
History
St. Joseph's Catholic Church
One of the oldest communities in Lavaca County, the town of Moulton was originally located about two miles from the current townsite. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad completed a line through the area in 1887, the population shifted to the new location. Many German and Czech immigrants moved here and established family farms.
History
St. Peter Lutheran Church
The history of Lutheran ministry in the Hallettsville area can be traced to 1868, when the Rev. Christian Geiger began missionary work among the area's German immigrants. Meeting first in the nearby Pagel settlement, a congregation was formally organized on December 21, 1889, in the home of Franz Groeber. Named St.
Military
Stephen Tucker Foley
Star and Wreath Born in Alabama. Came to Texas in 1834. Served in the Army of Texas, 1836. A member of Captain William Heard's Company of Citizen Soldiers at the Battle of San Jacinto. Erected by the State of Texas 1956
Nature
Sulphur Park
In the summer of 1930, farmer/rancher and large landowner Jake Kurtz set aside four acres of his property on the west side of the newly-paved Texas State Highway 95 between Shiner and Moulton to build a large concrete swimming pool and recreational area.
Elsewhere in Texas
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