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Fredericksburg's
Post Office Mural
"Loading Cattle" by Otis Dozier, 1939
Photo
Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, 5-2005
More Post
Office Murals |
About
Fredericksburg:
Fredericksburg
- Blending German Colonization with Modern Tourism by Sandy Fiedler
What does the assassination of JFK have to do with the development of
tourism in Fredericksburg, Texas? A lot. But first, how did Fredericksburg come
to be in the first place? more
Street
Name Trivia by Joe Foster
The first letters of streets intersecting Main Street heading southeast from
the center of town spell "ALL WELCOME"...
The first letters of streets intersecting
Main Street heading northwest from the center of town spell "COME BACK". moreBats
by Clay Coppedge
As it is and has been, about 100 million bats, mostly
Mexican free tail bats, make their summer homes in Texas.
The bats love Texas for the same reason a lot of people do: geography and climate.
Bats love caves and the state has some 3,000 caves and sinkholes though most of
the bat colonies are concentrated in about two dozen of those caves. Bracken Cave
near Frederiksburg has a thriving metropolis of 20 million bats, the largest known
bat colony in the world. Those 20 million bats can eat 200 tons of insects in
a single night, including mosquitoes and agricultural pests that plague cotton
and corn crops.
Fredericksburg
Hotels |
Fredericksburg
Texas Attractions |
Fredericksburg
Landmark ArchitectureA
jail, home, courthouse and saloon. |
| | The
1882 Gillespie County Courthouse, designed by English Architect Alfred Giles.
Now used as the Gillespie County Library.
Photo Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough
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The
Former Gillespie County Courthouse c.1882
On
the Public Square near the current courthouse.
Designed by Alfred Giles, English
Architect turned Texas Sheep Rancher
"...with its formal balance, heavy
decorative consoles, and Classical roof slopes, [it possesses] the dignity characteristic
of Renaissance Revival buildings." - Williard B. Robinson, Texas Public Buildings
of the Nineteenth Century
Gillespie
County Courthouse
Fredericksburg
Hotels |
The
White Elephant Saloon c. 1888
242 East Main Street
Once part
of a chain of "Gentleman's resorts," the San Antonio and Fort Worth branches were
probably a little rowdier than this one. |
| | The
former White Elephant Saloon
Photo Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005
|
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The Gillespie County Jail
Photo
Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005 |
| | The
Jail Wall
Photo Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005 |
| | Hohenberger
Homestead
Another
example of German masonry.
Photo Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005
|
| | Stone
walls remain as noteable landmarks for Fredericksburg.
Photo Courtesy
Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005 |
Fredericksburg
Texas History |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Named
in honor of Prince Frederick of Prussia, Fredericksburg had been the inland destination
of the German immigrants who came to Texas through the port of Indianola. John
O. Meusebach left New Braunfels in the summer of 1845 to survey the area with
the first 120 settlers arriving the next spring.
The trip which now
takes an hour took the settlers 16 days.
After the town was platted,
each family settler received a town lot and ten acres outside of town. plan was
a replica of the villages back in Germany. The earliest houses were log cabins
that were soon replaced with Fachwerk buildings.
Despite an epidemic
that killed a tenth of the settlers, Fredericksburg soon had a respectible population
of nearly 1,000. A road was built connecting Fredericksburg and Austin; and John
Meusebach brokered a successful treaty with the Comanches. |
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Replica
of "Vereins Kirche" or "Society's Church"
Photo courtesy
of Sandy Fiedler |
| Frederickburgs
most important building was the Vereins-Kirche. Before it was razed in
1897, the structure had served as fort, church, school, and town hall. Restored
in 1936 for the Centennial, the replica building now serves as offices for the
Gillespie County Historical Society. |
| | Restored
building at Fort Martin Scott
Photo Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough, May 2005
|
The
United States Army established Fort Martin Scott, which became a boon to
the local economy. Once cannibalized for its building stone, the fort is now defined
by a reconstructed building - with more planned. Soon after the Texas legislature
made Fredericksburg the Gillespie county seat.
Religious services had
all been held in the aforementioned Vereins-Kirche, until 1848 when Catholics
built their own church. |
| | Marienkirche
(Old St. Mary's Church) c. 1848
Built under the direction of Benedictine
priest Peter Baunach, the church was built by its members.
According
to architectural historian Williard B. Robinson, "the aisles were paved by soapstone
flagging, but the floor under the pews was covered with sand."
Photo
Courtesy Shannon Yarbrough |
The
first newspaper appeared (in German) in 1877, and it wasn't until after 1900 that
were the first purely English-speaking teachers employed in Fredericksburg's public
schools.
The first Gillespie County Fair (also believed to be the first
in Texas) was held at Fort Martin Scott in 1881. By 1904 the population was 1,632.
The San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway, arrived in November of 1913.
The railroad later became the Fredericksburg and Northern and stayed in business
until WWII.
In 1928 citizens voted to incorporate. Up until then Fredericksburg
had been the largest unincorporated town in the United States. It participated
in a census for the first time in 1930 (giving a number of 2,416).
Fredericksburg
became the counties manufacturing center and local quarries supplied both granite
and limestone. The Gillespie County Historical Society was founded in 1934 to
preserve local history and traditions.
Another historic building is the
former Nimitz Hotel - the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander
of the Pacific Fleet during WWII. |
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Admiral
Nimitz State Historic Site - National Museum of the Pacific War
P O Box 777
Fredericksburg TX 78624
830/997-4379
Admiral Nimitz
Museum
Courtesy of Sandy Fiedler |
The Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad
The
Little Engine That Couldn't by C. F. Eckhardt
"...
Even after the War, with much improved roads and a much lessened Indian problem,
it still took freight wagons the better part of a week to travel from San Antonio
to Fredericksburg... The people north and west of San Antonio wanted and needed
a railroad..." |
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A Coca Cola sign in Fredericksburg
Photo courtesy Shannon Yarbrough |
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