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History in
a Pecan Shell
(Information provided
by Carolyn
Heinsohn and the Fayette County Historical Commission.)
Described as a community “with indefinite boundaries,” Pisek relied
on the railroad for delineation. The railroad was the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas Railroad (KATY) and they operated a turntable at the site
in the late 1880s. At that time it was the terminus of the Katy. Pisek
was also the site of a serious train wreck (no date available).
Pisek had been located where Lone
Oak now is (look for the closed grocery with the plastic 1970s
7-up sign on FM 1291). The local German and Czech farmers were served
by two stores near here, but with the railroad turntable construction,
residents moved to be near the facility and the stores moved with
them.
Although the railroad had given the place the name of Sandy Point,
the local Czechs preferred the name Pisek, which means "sand" in the
Czech language.
By 1896, Pisek had its own post office as well as a cottonseed warehouse
and saloon. When the Katy completed their link to Houston,
the turntable was dismantled and the people returned to Lone
Oak. The post office closed in 1907.
Nothing is known of how the community (now reverted to Lone
Oak) fared through the 1920s or 30s, but without the economic
boost from the railroad, at least one store failed and the other moved
back to Lone Oak.
Today only a small railroad trestle remains to mark what had been
a busy part of Colorado
County. |
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Celebration at
Mike Krenek's home in Pisek, 1910
Courtesy Fayette Co Hist Comm; submitted by Carolyn
Heinsohn, FCHC member |
1907 postal map
showing Pisek in Northern Colorado
County, near Fayette
County line
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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