Constructed by town founder Thomas M. West and local contractor J.E. Bridges about 1890, this building housed two saloons until prohibition in 1919 prompted its conversion into a grocery store and bakery. Jim Tobola modified the building in 1923 to . . . — — Map (db m217761) HM
Isaac Butler "Doc" Cauble (1820-1904) built a cabin in 1850 near one of several flowing springs that was home to generations of Native Americans. Cauble's young son, James, was a friend to a Comanche boy who died and was buried on the hill now . . . — — Map (db m217767) HM
This congregation originated as part of earlier church in Martinville (now Tours). After the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad came through the area about 1890, church members in west received permission from the Bishop to erect their own . . . — — Map (db m152017) HM
Founded in 1858 in the pioneer settlement of Bold Springs, this church developed under the leadership of postmaster and farmer Alberto Vaughn and 32 charter members. The congregation erected a frame church building south of the settlement. In 1882, . . . — — Map (db m217762) HM
The Rev. D.C. Kinnard began the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1875. The first building on this site was erected in 1883. Walter Bennett Martin constructed the present building in 1901. Czechs organized a Presbyterian Church in 1911 and held . . . — — Map (db m217765) HM
Before a congregation was officially organized in 1884, a meetinghouse was built on this land owned by Jacob Closner. Under the Rev. Christian Schaer in September, 1887, eight German families started St. Peter's Church, Evangelical. Soon Closner . . . — — Map (db m217771) HM
In 1874, German immigrant August Groppe, Sr., purchased this land and began a family farm. Groppe, a founder of West's German community, bought additional farmland in 1883 and hired local builder Joseph Huber to construct this barn in 1886. An . . . — — Map (db m217773) HM
One of the first German settlers in the area, August Groppe, Sr. (1840-1919) had this structure built in 1892, the year the town of West was incorporated. A prominent cotton farmer and businessman. Groppe hired local brickmasons and used bricks that . . . — — Map (db m62453) HM
Early Catholic settlers in northern McClennan County worshipped at St. Martin's Church in Tours, five miles southeast of present West. After more immigrant Catholic families of Czech, Moravian, Slovak, and German origin moved to the area in the late . . . — — Map (db m217769) HM
St. Mary's Catholic Church was officially organized in West in 1892. Because parents wanted a Catholic education for their children, Father F. G. Sebik wrote to Reverend Mother Florence, Superior General of the Sisters of Divine Providence, . . . — — Map (db m151061) HM
A head-on collision between two locomotives was staged on Sept. 15, 1896, as a publicity stunt for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad. Over 30,000 spectators gathered at the crash site, named "Crush" for MKT passenger agent William G. Crush, who . . . — — Map (db m35909) HM
A head-on collision between two locomotives was staged on Sept. 15, 1896, as a publicity stunt for the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas railroad. Over 30,000 spectators gathered at the crash site, named "Crush" for MKT passenger
agent William G. . . . — — Map (db m59674) HM
This community traces its origin to the establishment by entrepreneur Thomas M. West of a stagecoach stop, dry goods store and post office here in the late 1860s. Known as the Bold Springs Settlement, these commercial structures were built on a . . . — — Map (db m60001) HM
Czech immigrants began settling in this area of McLennan County about 1875. Early families included those of Josef Masek and John Foit. They attended St. Peter's Evangelical Church, founded and attended by German settlers, until the Rev. Henry Juren . . . — — Map (db m234956) HM
