Series 'Texas Historical Marker'

Providence Cemetery. According to oral tradition, this cemetery has served residents of the Providence area since the 1830s. The earliest marked grave is that of Elizabeth Hughes, who died in 1841, but the presence of unmarked graves suggests that the burial ground was used earlier. There are more than 600 graves located here, including those of early Providence area farmers, slaves, and veterans of the Civil War and World Wars I and II. The historic burial ground is maintained by the Providence Cemetery Association. It remains an important cultural resource in this area. #8648

?, Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08649

Providence Baptist Church. Organized 1841 in Republic of Texas by James A. Prewitt, first deacon. Until calling of pastor, 32 members met 3 or 4 times a year, with planters from Brazos bottoms and their households (including slaves) in attendance. By 1875 this was one of most influential churches in area, known for its 2-weeks brush arbor or tabernacle meetings. It has had 25 pastors. Original church was of split logs. Present building is the fourth. Centennial observance in 1941 was attended by the Lieutenant Governor and other officials. #8649

?, Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08650

Reeves-Womack House. Caldwell native William Reeves (1858-1921), a prominent merchant and banker in the town, built this residence before the turn of the century. In 1907 it was sold to Civil War veteran Capt. Mansell Lewis Womack (b. 1846), a local business and civic leader who had served as Sheriff of Burleson County. Members of his family owned the house until 1957. The home's elaborate late Victorian style features intricate Eastlake detailing. #8650

405 W. Fox St., Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08651

St. John's Lutheran Church. This church was organized by The Rev. A. H. Falkenberg and 35 charter members in 1910. Services were held in a schoolhouse until a sanctuary, containing an 800-pound bell donated by the family of John B. Luedke, Sr., was built here in 1917. The church established an adjacent cemetery in 1918. The congregation prospered and a new church building was erected here in 1966. The original bell, housed in a tower at this site, continued to herald the commencement of worship services. This congregation has played a vital role in the community's civic, social, and religious development. #8651

?, Deanville, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08652

San Salvador Mission Church. San Salvador, a mission of St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Bryan, was named for the patron saint of Cefalu, Sicily, the native village of Italian immigrants who came here in 1894. Religious services were held in homes until 1908, when devout families each gave cotton from ten field rows to buy materials, and the men worked six weeks to build this church. First Mass was said at its Altar in Oct. 1908. In 1952 the building was remodeled, and a new Altar was added in 1965. #8652

9203 CR 286, Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08653

Snook. Settled 1880s by Czech immigrants. First called "Sebesta's Corner". In 1895 named "Snook" for John Snook, who helped secure post office. Soon had a one-room school, a "masova schuza" (slaughterhouse), a cooperative store, and lodge for "Czechoslovak Benevolent Society". #8653

?, Snook, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08654

Somerville. Located where two branches of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway joined, town was named for Albert Somerville, first president of the railroad. First settlers arrived after town was surveyed about 1883; the post office was permanently established in 1897. Somerville boomed in the 1890s when local citizens persuaded a railroad tie plant to locate here. Santa Fe Railroad bought the operation in 1905; this is still an important industry. Incorporated in 1913, the town has become a recreation center since Lake Somerville was created in the 1960s. #8654

?, Somerville, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08655

Alexander Thomson. (August 29, 1785 - June 1, 1863) A leader in colonizing Texas. Born in St. Matthew's Parish, S.C.; lived also in Georgia, then in Tennessee where in 1830 he became partner of the Empresario in development of the Sterling C. Robertson Colony. Conducting a number of families who had signed agreements to settle in the Robertson Colony, he crossed into Texas and came to Nacogdoches three days after Mexican officials there received notice of 1830 law requiring passports of immigrants. After Thomson tried unsuccessfully to have rule waived for hardship reasons, the party bypassed Nacogdoches, making a new trail often used afterward and known as the Tennesseans' Road. Thomson lived for a time in Austin's Colony, representing District of Hidalgo (now Washington County) at Texas Convention of 1832. By 1835, when he was Consultation Delegate from Viesca (later Milam Municipality), he was living and serving as official surveyor in Robertson's Colony. Still a leader, he was Robertson's executor in 1842. Married twice, father of 13, he was ancestor of many noted Texans, including Thaddeus A. Thomson, United States envoy to Colombia and signer of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty in 1914. Alexander Thomson is buried in Thomson Family Cemetery one mile to the northeast. #8655

?, Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08656

Waugh Campground. Given to Methodist church as a camp-meeting site, by the Isaac S. Addison family. Mrs. Addison named camp in honor of Bishop Beverly Waugh, who presided at first Methodist Conference in Texas, and who, like the Addisons, was from Baltimore, Md. Site was used for quarterly conferences of the church and for revivals. Converted here was The Rev. B. H. Carroll (1843-1914), great Baptist leader. Campground was open also for secular gatherings. A famous occasion was the July 16, 1857, debate between U.S. Senator Sam Houston and Judge A. S. Broaddus, a Burleson County leader. #8656

?, Caldwell, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08657

J. L. Woods' Undertaking Company. Jebb Lee Woods (1872-1932) came to Somerville in 1900. He began working for his uncle at the Cowboy Merchant Store, where he sold coffins. In 1911 he became the town undertaker and started the first funeral parlor in the county. The practice of embalming first began in 1914 and coffins were purchased from traveling salesmen. A horse-drawn hearse was used until 1929. Woods family descendants continued to operate the business after his death. Later known as Strickland Funeral Home, Inc., it remains a family business. #8657

511 8th St., Somerville, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08658

Yegua Creek. In 1690 the Spanish gave the name "San Francisco" to this 62-mile Brazos River tributary; but on an 1822 map, Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas", marked it "Yegua", Spanish for "mare". Mustang mares and foals then grazed among the Indians on the timbered creek. In 1826, colonist John P. Coles built a mill on the stream. A measure signed in 1837 by Texas President Sam Houston made the Yegua a county boundary. Floods often devastated the area until Lake Somerville harnessed Yegua's waters in 1967. Now a recreation area, the lake and creek benefit crops, wild life, and vacationers. #8658

?, Somerville, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08659

Alexander Cemetery. There was a schoolhouse near this site in 1854 when, according to tradition, the first interment was made here. That early grave, for a child by the name of Whitley, had no marker and has been lost. This land was part of a one-league headright grant made on Oct. 15, 1832, by Mexico to George W. Singleton, who had come to Texas with the "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin. Two of Singleton's heirs, living in Washington County, on Oct. 2, 1856, deeded ten acres from the grant for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The Alexander Church building was then erected near the school, and burials were continued in the area. The earliest identifiable grave is that of one of the original trustees of the property, James Walker (1817-74). William Lawrence, another of the first trustees, was also buried here, in 1879. The Alexander Cemetery Association was formed in 1941, with A.J. McCallum as President and L.T. Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer. Joe B. Walker, Wilson's successor, has served the association for 27 years. The association installed the chain link fence and water supply system. There are about 300 marked graves, and the cemetery is still open to burials. #8659

?, Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08660

Alexander Methodist Chapel. Organized in 1854 by Robert Alexander, Circuit Rider. First church built of hand-hewn logs in 1856 by early settlers, George Fullerton, Hugh Henry, Jim Walker, John Walker, E.W. Thompson and others. Ten acres of church land donated by Eliz Boatwright and John Singleton was deeded to the following trustees: James Walker, William Lawrence, John B. Wallace, William Glass and Harvey Mitchell. Second church was built in 1908 - W.D. Gardner, Pastor. Third church was built in 1939 - Willard Smith, Pastor. #8660

?, Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08661

Allen Academy. This school originated as Madison Academy, founded in 1886 in Madisonville by John Hodges Allen (1854-1920), an educator from Mississippi. When his brother Rivers O. Allen (1865-1925) joined him in 1896, the institution became Allen Academy, a private boarding school for boys. During the summer of 1899, the Allens moved the school to Bryan. In the early years of the 20th Century, enrollment steadily increased. The campus was enlarged and new buildings erected to accommodate the students. During World War I, military training was introduced. In 1925 John Allen's son Nat Burtis Allen (1892-1946) became director of the school. During his tenure, the academy continued to grow and gained national recognition. When he died in 1946, the campus contained over 300 acres, including a farm and dairy. His son Nat Burtis Allen, Jr. (1919-1973) guided the institution until 1973 and led in establishing broader curriculum. Allen Academy is the oldest accredited, non-sectarian preparatory school for boys operating in Texas. Its graduates include leaders in government and business. Today the institution is coeducational and offers a broad range of scholastic programs for boarding and day students. (1997) #8661

3201 FM 158, Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08662

A&M College Consolidated Rural School. The state of Texas granted a charter for an independent school district to encompass the Texas A&M College campus in 1909. Because there was not a sufficient number of students in the district to support a school, A&M president William Bizzell and professor Martin Hayes, head of the department of vocational teaching, persuaded the leaders of three surrounding common school districts to send their students to a new school to be located on the college campus. The new school opened in 1920 with 304 students. It was supported by A&M college with funding for buildings, teacher salaries, furniture, and equipment. It became a model for rural schools in the area, and by 1928 the surrounding school districts officially dissolved and merged with A&M College Consolidated Independent School District. By 1938 the school facilities had become overcrowded. Because the college was not able to increase its contributions to the institution, the school moved off of the A&M campus in 1940. With the move came the genesis of the College Station Independent School District. #8662

2118 Welsh, College Station, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08663

Astin-Porter Home. Built for Onah (Ward) Astin (d. 1944), the wife of cotton planter James H. Astin (d. 1897), this house was designed by the Waco firm of Howard Messer and S. Wemyss Smith. Construction began in 1901 and was completed two years later. The exterior of the Classical Revival residence features a two-story gallery with Corinthian columns. Holland Porter, a planter, purchased the home in 1946, and additions were made to the structure during his ownership. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980 #8663

600 E. 29th St., Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08664

Black Education in Bryan. On March 30, 1885, the City of Bryan purchased seven lots in this area as a site for a public school to provide separate but equal and impartial instruction for black children of the community, as prescribed by the Texas State Constitution of 1876. The "Bryan Public School for Colored" was the first educational institution established for blacks in Brazos County. When school opened in the fall of 1885, its principal was A.H. Colwell, who later became a prominent leader of black Republicans, and was named as a presidential elector from Texas in 1896. The original faculty included Mrs. Anne Alberson, Misses Mamie Burrows and Beatrice Calhoun, Mrs. Ada Scott Hall, and Mrs. Lenora Green, a classmate of Dr. William E.B. Dubois. The first school building of this site was a two-story frame structure, furnished with planks supported by kegs for seating. After the school burned in 1914, a brick edifice was constructed. In 1930, when the Kemp Junior-Senior High School was built across town, this facility became Washington Elementary School. After its destruction by fire in Sept. 1971, Washington Elementary was not rebuilt and the black students were integrated into the Bryan Public School System. Washington Park occupies most of the original site. #8664

?, Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08665

Town of Boonville. Site of the town of Boonville Established in 1841 as the county seat of Navasota County by John Millican, John H. Jones, J. ?Ferguson, E. Seale, and Mordecai Boon whose name it bears. The name of the county was changed to Brazos in 1842. Boonville flourished until 1866 when Bryan was established on the railroad #8665

?, Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08666

Brazos County. 1936 text: Created from Robertson and Washington Counties in 1841. First called Navasota, changed 1842 to Brazos after two rivers on county's boundaries. Organized in 1843, with Boonville as county seat; Bryan county seat since 1866. Area originally included in Stephen F. Austin's Second Colony, 1828. Became a part of the Washington municipality, 1837, under the Mexican government. First railroad reached Millican in 1860. A. & M. University opened, 1876. Economy based on agricultural, industrial and educational activities. Replacement text, 2000: Brazos County, part of Stephen F. Austin's colony, was created from Washington County in 1841. It was first named Navasota County, with Boonville as the county seat. In 1842 the name was changed to Brazos County. Through the Civil War, Millican, located at the end of the railroad from Houston, was a major town. When the railroad was continued through the county, Bryan became the county seat in 1866. The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) opened in 1876 and College Station grew around it, incorporating in 1938. #8666

300 E. 26th St., Bryan, TX, United States

Texas Historical Marker #08667

Brazos County Confederate Commissioners Court. Furnished horses, equipment and clothing for county men in the Civil War. Levied war taxes on property, exempting lands or estates of Confederate soldiers. After surveying to determine needs of the families of Brazos soldiers, appropriated funds to care for them. Gave credits for contributions made by citizens to soldiers' dependents. Issued county warrants for 25 (cents), 50 (cents), $1, $2, $3 and $5 that passed as legal tender. Obtained for resale to the citizens scarce powder, lead, gun caps, medicines, shoes, cotton cards cloth, shoe makers' tools. #8667

?, Bryan, TX, United States