Fredericksburg,T EXAS

Established in August 1845 as a way sta­tion for German immigrants en route to the colonial lands granted by the Republic of Texas to the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas (Adelsverein for short).

Located approximately 70 miles west of Austin, Fredericksburg is situated on the southern edge of the Texas hill country. The commissioner-general of the Adels- verein, John O. Meusebach, felt that the organization’s principal community of New Braunfels was too far away from the actual colonial lands to serve as an ade­quate starting point for would-be settlers. Thus he sought to establish another village in closer proximity to the lands intended for colonization. Meusebach dubbed this new settlement Fredericksburg, in honor of Prince Friedrich of Prussia, a leading mem­ber of the Adelsverein.

Meusebach chose as the site of Freder­icksburg lands at the confluence of two creeks on the southern edge of the Adelsverein’s cession. These two creeks drained into the Pedernales River, some 5 miles distant, and were later named Baron’s Creek, after Meusebach, and Town Creek. The land, which Meusebach purchased on credit, offered ample natural resources upon which to found a community. The town was surveyed by Hermann Wilke in the fashion of those found in the Rhineland.

The Adelsverein’s colonial experiment was never a practical affair. The society greatly underfunded the enterprise, and the bourgeoisie noblemen that led the organi­zation poorly equipped the settlers for life on the Texas frontier. Despite harsh condi­tions and rampant disease among the set­tlers, by August 1846 Fredericksburg had a population of 1,000 immigrants. Under the leadership of Meusebach, these first set­tlers quickly went to work building a com­munity. In the fall of 1846 an interdenom­inational church was erected. Officially named the Vereins-Kirche, the structure was built in the shape of an octagon, each side of the church measuring 18 feet long with walls 18 feet high and topped off by a cupola with an octagonal roof.

Although the new community was lo­cated deep within the territorial lands of the Comanche, the settlers remained rela­tively unmolested during their first two years of activity. However, Meusebach was keenly aware that if progress were to be made in moving settlers onto their land grant within the actual bounds of the colony, some form of treaty would have to be made with these nomadic Indians. The Comanche had thus far proved to be the most tenacious impediment to Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo colonization in Texas. After negotiations on March 1 and 2, 1847, held deep within Comanche terri­tory, principal chiefs came to Fredericks­burg on May 9, 1847, to sign an official treaty with Meusebach, ensuring that Ger­man settlement could take place in the Texas hill country with relative safety.

Meusebach had wisely chosen his loca­tion for Fredericksburg. By the time he stepped down as commissioner-general of the Adelsverein on July 20, 1847, the town had a population of 2,000, a wagon road had opened to Austin, and more than fif­teen stores were in operation. The follow­ing year saw the establishment of the fed­eral garrison at nearby Fort Martin Scott.

Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church, San Antonio Street, Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas, 1934. (Library of Congress)

The presence of U.S. troops only 2 miles east of Fredericksburg provided both secu­rity to the populace and a ready market for their dry goods and surplus agricultural products. Despite a recent outbreak of cholera, in 1849, the year after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, Freder­icksburg’s prosperity was further bolstered when the U.S.

In December 1847, 150 residents of Fredericksburg drew up a petition request­ing that the Texas legislature create a new county out of massive Bexar County, with Fredericksburg as its seat. Originally plan­ners thought to name the county Germa­nia, but finally requested that the legisla­ture call it Pierdenalis, after the Pedernales River. Legislators, instead, created Gillespie County on February 23, 1848, named for Robert A. Gillespie, who died in the Mexican-American War at the Battle of Monterrey. All the officers of this new county were initially German immigrants with one exception: the county clerk, who was from Kentucky.

Life in Fredericksburg throughout the nineteenth century was typified by the pop­ulation’s commitment to religion and edu­cation. As Fredericksburg became a regional community center, prosperous farmers from throughout the area began building so-called Sunday houses so that they might have lodgings when coming into town for church services. In 1848 the Catholic con­gregation of the Vereins-Kirche formed their own church, which was supplanted by the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) in 1860, one of the most prominent land­marks in Fredericksburg. The Methodist congregation formed their own church at about the same time. In 1852 the Lutheran congregation formed Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, the first Lutheran church in the Texas hill country.

Johann Leyendecker, a professional teacher from Nassau, established the first school in the Vereins-Kirche in the fall of 1847. Classes were taught in German, at a tuition rate of $1 per quarter. The Vereins- Kirche was a drafty classroom ill-suited to learning, and the rapid succession of teach­ers were forced to hold other jobs in order to earn a livelihood. In 1856 a formal, city- sponsored public school was formed with a regular teacher’s salary and classes taught in English.

In 1876 the German Methodist Church founded Fredericksburg College. Intended as an institution of higher learn­ing, it served the community for only a brief period, with its campus incorporated into the Fredericksburg Independent School District in 1884. In 1909 St. An­thony’s College was established under the auspices of the Catholic congregation for the continuing education of young boys. It was dissolved in 1923 when the establish­ment of St. Mary’s High School rendered it obsolete.

Despite its relative prosperity, Freder­icksburg remained an isolated community throughout the nineteenth century. The peace sustained through this isolation was broken by the onset of the Civil War. Like many American communities, the hill country Germans were divided by seces­sion and war. Although most Germans were opposed to slavery and remained loyal to the Union, several notables, including Charles Nimitz, grandfather of Admiral Chester Nimitz, sided with the Confeder­acy. Nimitz came to prominence in 1852 with the founding of the Nimitz Hotel on the main street in Fredericksburg, which today serves as the National Museum of the Pacific War.

In contrast to Nimitz, who served with honor and distinction, a group of Confed­erate irregulars known as Die Haengebande (Hangman’s Band) emerged around ring­leader J. P. Waldrip. Waldrip and his gang terrorized the community in the name of the Confederacy, stringing up those who re­sisted. They even targeted Nimitz when he attempted to draft Haengebande members into the regular service. James M. Duff also troubled hill country Germans. As the head of a group of Confederate irregulars, he conducted raids into the hill country and was responsible for the massacre of German Union loyalists at the Battle of the Nueces near present-day Comfort, Texas, on Au­gust 10, 1862.

Fredericksburg regained much of its isolation after the close of the Civil War. German remained the principal language spoken throughout Gillespie County.

otism, even making the ultimate sacrifice. The first American killed in France in World War I, Lieutenant Louis Jordan, was a native of Gillespie County.

Today Fredericksburg is best known for its cadre of annual festivals, sponsored by the numerous clubs common in Ger­man communities, such as the Easter Fires Pageant, Founders Day, A Night in Old Fredericksburg, Oktoberfest, and Weih- nachten. Since the 1970s descendants of the original German immigrants in Freder­icksburg have created a revival of German culture in the community. The Fredericks­burg Heritage Foundation and Gillespie County Historical Society have been founded to further this mission. Visitors are treated to a Maibaum (maypole) on the town square illustrating prominent events in Fredericksburg’s history. A plethora of “Sunday houses” and other original struc­tures complete with Old World Fachwerk (framework) architecture are scattered throughout the town, which has become a tourist Mecca to those visiting the Texas hill country. In 2000 the population of Fredericksburg was 8,911.

Jerry C. Drake

See also Adelsverein; Meusebach, John O.; New Braunfels, Texas; Nueces, Battle of the; Texas

References and Further Reading

Biesele, Rudolph Leopold. The History of the German Settlements in Texas, 1831—1861. Austin: Von Boeckman Jones, 1930.

Biggers, Don H. German Pioneers in Texas: A Brief History of their Hardships, Struggles, and Achievements. Fredericksburg: Fredericksburg Publishing, 1925.

Department of History, Southwest Texas State University. Fredericksburg: Guidebook to the Historic German Hill Country. San Marcos: Southwest Texas State University Press, 2003.

King, Irene Marschall. John O. Meusebach: German Colonizer in Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.

Newcomb, W. W., Jr. The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961.

Roemer, Ferdinand. Texas with Particular Reference to German Immigration and the Physical Appearance of the Country. Trans. Oswald Mueller. San Antonio: Steward Printing Company, 1935.

Zelade, Richard. Hill Country: Discovering the Secrets of the Texas Hill Country. Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1983.