The Danish Folk Society obtained a land option from the Texas Land and Cattle Company and helped 93 Danish families from the midwest establish the Danevang Cooperative Settlement here in the early 1890s. The settlers, strong adherents of the . . . — — Map (db m120615) HM
The first successful Danish community in Texas. Established in 1894 on a portion of 25,000 acres secured through option by Danish Folk Society from Texas Land and Cattle Company.
Most immigrants came first to the northern United States, where . . . — — Map (db m120613) HM
The Danish community of Danevang (Danish Field) was founded in 1894, at the height of Danish emigration to the United States. The Dansk Folkesamfund (Danish Folk Society), organized in the Midwest in 1887 to preserve Danish culture, language . . . — — Map (db m120614) HM
The church building before you was erected at Camp Hulen at Palacios, Texas at the beginning of the nineteen-forties when the nation was preparing for war. As part of a huge construction effort, which transformed a tent camp into an anti-aircraft . . . — — Map (db m120611) HM
Front:
Danevang
1894 - 1976
This monument was erected in honor of all the pioneers who settled Danevang. They met adversity and hardship with Christian fellowship, cooperation and hard work. They achieved their goal of a Danish community . . . — — Map (db m122158) HM
Near this site once stood the community of Frazarville, founded in 1857 by Dr. Isaac James Frazar and his father, Col. James Watson Frazar. A locust infestation and Comanche raids forced them to move from Cibolo Creek in Bexar County to this site, . . . — — Map (db m96298) HM
Joseph (c. 1787-1831) and Rachel Rabb (1790-1872) Newman were married in 1806 in Ohio. Following Joseph's service in the War of 1812 in Illinois, they lived in Arkansas Territory on the Red River before moving into Texas in 1820. In 1823, they left . . . — — Map (db m96300) HM
Many Catholic Czechoslovakian immigrants settled in the prairies near East Bernard in the 1880s. Visiting priests served their religious needs. In 1900 the settlers began the establishment of a parish by purchasing cemetery property in East . . . — — Map (db m168506) HM
Beginning in the 1880s, Czech settlers came to this area, contributing to the development of East Bernard. To supprt Texas Czechs of the Catholic faith, residents of Bluff (Hostyn) established the Katolická Jednota Texasská, or Czech . . . — — Map (db m168507) HM
A crossroads for trade and travel in the earliest years of Anglo settlement in Texas, Egypt is considered the oldest remaining community in Wharton County. In 1826, Eli Mercer established a home and ferry crossing on the east bank of the Colorado . . . — — Map (db m191907) HM
William Jones Elliott Heard was born in Tennessee in 1801, the first of Stephen R. and Jemima M. Heard's nine children. Sometime in the 1820s Heard moved to Alabama where he married America Morton.
Heard received a land certificate from . . . — — Map (db m191904) HM
Begun as a camp on the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad in 1882, El Campo initially was known as Prairie Switch and served as a supply and shipping center for area ranchers. By the 1890s the town had grown to include a post office, homes, . . . — — Map (db m96319) HM
Between 1890 and 1898, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, German Lutheran, and Swedish Methodist churches were organized in El Campo. The town's first Baptist church was organized on April 28, 1895, by the Rev. J.P. Rutledge and nine . . . — — Map (db m192554) HM
El Campo's first permanent school building was a simple wooden structure built near this site about 1891. El Campo Independent School District was organized in 1895, early schools were financed through local taxes, individual subscriptions, tuition, . . . — — Map (db m192557) HM
The El Campo Library Association began the city's first library in 1902. A public library opened at the downtown fire station in 1927. After a branch of the Wharton County Library was established in El Campo in 1939, this facility was completed in . . . — — Map (db m96318) HM
El Campo residents, including Mack Webb, the city's first mayor, established First Christian Church in January 1904. Members worshiped in the Methodist sanctuary until completing a new building here in November of that year. Damaged by a 1909 . . . — — Map (db m192555) HM
The First National Bank of El Campo traces its history to the Koch and Poole Mercantile Company. In 1890 El Campo was an exciting new railroad town. Customers left their money in the Koch and Poole safe for protection, and soon the store assumed the . . . — — Map (db m33213) HM
El Campo was known as "Prairie Switch" when it was established in 1881 as a siding and shipping point on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railroad, where cattlemen rounded up their herds for shipping. It was also a station for construction gangs . . . — — Map (db m32550) HM
The city of El Campo began in 1881 as a rail stop on the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad connecting Houston and Victoria. The region's fertile soils encouraged farming, and numerous families of diverse backgrounds moved to the area. Most of those . . . — — Map (db m192556) HM
Located on the east bank of the Colorado River northwest of Wharton, Glen Flora was first settled on one of two land grants awarded to Robert H. Kuykendall, Sr., member of Stephen F. Austin's old three hundred. Around 1890, C.H. Waterhouse moved to . . . — — Map (db m191925) HM
Joel Hudgins (1800-1873) of North Carolina came to the Republic of Texas in 1839 and settled in the Hungerford area. He married Rachel Ann Northington McKenzie (d. 1903) in 1847. He was elected county commissioner in 1854.
After Joel's death, . . . — — Map (db m124418) HM
Attracted by the State of Texas' offer of free land to railroad developers, a charter for the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad was secured in 1880. Its major investor, John W. Mackay, made his fortune in the Nevada silver mines. His . . . — — Map (db m125417) HM
In the summer of 1837 Post West Bernard Station was established as an ordnance depot of the army of The Republic of Texas. Its location on the West Bernard River was strategic in protecting Houston, then capital of Texas, from possible invasion by . . . — — Map (db m124425) HM
The village of Quinan was established about 1872 on the Wharton-Richmond road. It was named for Judge George E. Quinan (1819-1893), who lived south of here on Peach Creek. A native of Ireland, Quinan served in the Texas Senate and on the state Court . . . — — Map (db m124422) HM
The town of Louise was founded in 1881 on the route of the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railway. Named for the daughter of railroad director D.E. Hungerford, it soon became a shipping and marketing center for this area.
In 1891, ten years . . . — — Map (db m192558) HM
In the 1900s, the growing town of Louise welcomed its first bank, which received its state charter in 1909. The board directors included W.F. O'Briant, president; Dan W. Wybrants, secretary; and Alfred Peterson, W.G. Davis and Maude Davis. A . . . — — Map (db m192561) HM
Born in DeSoto. In World War I, served with distinction in Co. C, 111th Engineers, A.E.F.
Moved to Louise, 1933. Married Jessie Thomas 1936. Was twice commander, Craig-Harriss Post, American Legion. First president Louise Chamber of Commerce. A . . . — — Map (db m192560) HM
Here, in the 1890s, the celebrated Texas cattleman A.H. "Shanghai" Pierce (1834-1900) platted the townsite of Pierce, which he hoped would become the Wharton County seat. Its proximity to his ranch headquarters in the central part of the county was . . . — — Map (db m192549) HM
Georgia native Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834 from Alabama, where he had served in the state legislature. He established a plantation along Caney Creek in present Wharton County. In 1835, he returned to Alabama to recruit volunteers for . . . — — Map (db m191990) HM
The Rev. Hillary Hooks, formerly a slave on the James E. Winston plantation, organized Camp Zion Baptist Church in 1870. Winston granted land to Camp Zion trustees in 1887. A segment of the membership left and organized Rising Star Baptist Church . . . — — Map (db m205730) HM
The town of Wharton was founded as the seat of Wharton County in April 1846. Land for a courthouse, named Monterey Square, was given from the land grant of William Kincheloe, one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colonists who settled in . . . — — Map (db m120594) HM
Early Baptist worship services in this area were most likely held at the home of "Old 300" colonist William Kincheloe perhaps as early as 1822. A Sunday School was started in or near present-day Wharton in 1829 or 1830. A Baptist congregation was . . . — — Map (db m191933) HM
Early Methodist services in this area can be traced to 1835 when a camp meeting was held in Egypt. According to local church historians, the Wharton congregation began meeting in 1859 and was officially organized in 1865. Members built a church on . . . — — Map (db m191927) HM
A native of Ohio, Joseph Andrew Hamilton served in the Union army during the Civil War. About 1866 he settled in Wharton, where he held a variety of local political offices. Hamilton purchased this property in 1885 and moved his family into the . . . — — Map (db m207920) HM
Rosa F. McCamly had this home built in 1896. In 1897 she sold it to Edwin Hawes (b. 1852), Wharton County judge in the 1870s and 1880s. Hawes had returned to this area after temporarily residing in Kerrville, where he was mayor. Here he was a . . . — — Map (db m207921) HM
A native of Dublin, Ireland, George E. Quinan came to Texas in the 1830s. By the mid-1840s he had moved to Wharton and set up a law office near this site. He was elected district attorney in 1845. Quinan and his wife Mary Anne established a home on . . . — — Map (db m120600) HM
Nettie Elkins House has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. — — Map (db m208169) HM
The Security Bank and Trust Company traces its history to the Wharton National Bank. The second banking institution to open in the city, the Wharton National Bank was organized in 1902, and closed in 1915. Following reorganization, the bank reopened . . . — — Map (db m120599) HM
Jewish families in Wharton began meeting together for worship services about 1899. The congregation received its official charter in 1913 and was registered as Shearith Israel Synagogue. A synagogue building was erected on S. Rusk Street in 1921, . . . — — Map (db m191928) HM
Built on Wharton's Courthouse Square, the Plaza Hotel began circa 1904 as a two-story brick structure with a large dining room on the first floor and 20 rooms to let. Owned and operated by R. B. Huston and his wife Lula Merriwether Huston, the Plaza . . . — — Map (db m120601) HM
Born in Georgia in 1806
Editor "The Texas Gazette" and
"The Mexican Citizen," pioneer
Texas newspapers
Active in the Revolution
Member of the Supreme Court of
the Republic, 1836-1839
Member of Texas Legislature
1846-1849
Died . . . — — Map (db m120597) HM
Included in a land grant awarded in 1824 to Martin Allen, one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colonists, this property has had a long and varied history. In the 1840s Allen's heirs sold most of his land to Albert Clinton Horton, Wharton . . . — — Map (db m96304) HM
The Rev. Ernst August Wenzel, a German Lutheran Missionary, began visiting German immigrant families in the Kriegel area east of Wharton in the 1890s. They formed a congregation, and in 1898 purchased the former Methodist Church building in Wharton . . . — — Map (db m191934) HM
This church traces its history to 1893, when German settlers in Waterhouse (about 10 mi. W) began worshiping together. Officially named St. John Lutheran Church in 1895, the congregation moved to Glen Flora in 1920, after storms, destroyed its first . . . — — Map (db m191936) HM
At the Diocesan Convention of 1867 St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church was established, the second church group in Wharton County and the first and only Episcopal Church to permanently root in the county, worship in Wharton began with the first official . . . — — Map (db m191926) HM
This typical "shotgun house” was built by Texas Gulf Sulphur Company in 1917 to house workers at its sulphur mine in the coastal town of Gulf, Texas. It was later sold and moved to College Street in Wharton. Byrl and Irvin "Rags” Rather were . . . — — Map (db m212433) HM
Wharton County was established in 1846, and the county seat, Wharton, was laid out on the Mexican Land Grant of "Old 300" colonist William Kincheloe. In 1866, county commissioners appointed James Whitten to find a suitable location for a cemetery. . . . — — Map (db m191935) HM
Wharton County
Created April 3, 1846
From Matagorda, Jackson and Colorado
Counties, Organized same year
Named for
William H. Wharton
1806-1839
Texas minister to the
United States
1836-1837, and his brother
John A. Wharton . . . — — Map (db m120596) HM
"Lest We Forget"
1861-1865
Dedicated to the Confederate veterans of Wharton County by the J.E.B. Stuart Chapter Daughters of Confederacy
Commanders of Buchel Camp
Col. I.N. Dennis
Capt. G.C. Duncan
R.M. Brown
Judge G.S. . . . — — Map (db m122254) WM
The Texas legislature created Wharton County in 1846, incorporating part of Stephen F. Austin's original land grant from Mexico. The William Kincheloe family donated land on the east bank of the Colorado River for a courthouse square, and the home . . . — — Map (db m120593) HM
