| |
| | | An
endorsement from the Ellinger Texas Brass Band for the C.G. Conn musical instrument
company. Photo Courtesy Fayette County Heritage Museum & Archives |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Joseph Ehlinger, was born in Alsace, France and actually served
in Napoleon's army before its defeat. He at least got to see Moscow. He also was
present at San Jacinto and received a grant of land for his service. He had just
built a fine house in Fayette County and had gone to Europe to bring his family
to their new home. While crossing Buffalo Bayou near Houston,
his horse became entangled in wild grapevines and he drowned. The family entered
the house he had built for them without Joseph being there to see it. |
| Charles
Ehlinger was Joseph's son and he became a surveyor. He
laid out the plat of the original town which was then known as Live Oak Hill and
was just north of present day Ellinger - near the old cemetery.
He was also the town's first postmaster. His son, Charles W. Ehlinger
grew to become a merchant, farmer and a Board Member on the First State Bank of
Ellinger. | |
The Southern Pacific
Railroad came through the area in 1873 and missed Live Oak Hill by two miles.
In 1880, land was donated and a man named Andrea Ondry, suggested they name it
after Joseph Ehlinger.
When the Ellinger post office was opened, it was
in Colorado County. Sometime between 1877 and 1889 it became part of Fayette County.
The location has changed over the years - at one time it was in the former bank.
|
| | | | The
long vacant Bank of Ellinger. Never robbed, but the doors once had their handles
shot off. TE photo, 2001 | |
| | The
old Ellinger Depot
Courtesy Fayette County Heritage Museum & Archives
| | |
| | "W.
J. Lemp's Beer & Ice House"
Courtesy Fayette County Heritage
Museum & Archives | |
|
The town entertained
the idea of becoming the tomato capital of Texas in the 1930s before a late April
freeze ended that dream.
Today the blinding lights of modern gas stations
distract the Houston-Austin
traveler from noticing that there is a community on the north side of the highway.
Old Ellinger Cemetery
> |
St.
Mary's Catholic Church about 1.7 miles NE of Ellinger
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, January 2006 |
| | The
Old C.W. Ehlinger Store - (showing the original spelling)
before it collapsed
TE photo, 2001 | |
Ellinger Texas Forum
Subject:
Ellinger, Texas Dear
TE: The name changed from Ehlinger to Ellinger when the railroad came through
the area. In fact the town was originally up the hill (Live Oak Hill) near the
church where the graveyard is, and was moved to its current location to induce
the railroad to stop there - as my grandfather told me. It was easier for the
people to phonetically spell it. The silent "H" is a royal pain, believe me when
I tell you as I have to constantly spell it for people.
My grandfather
was Dr. Rancier B. Ehlinger, his father was Dr. Otto Ehlinger - both MD's born
in Ellinger, TX, and both were graduates of and the college doctors at Texas A&M
(Tulane University MD graduates), and both were descendants of Joseph Ehlinger.
The hospital at Bryan was owned at one time by my grandfather in partnership with
another Dr., and given to the nuns that now own it when he retired in ca. 1948.
- Ladd P. Ehlinger, AIA, August 09, 2005
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