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1820s and
1830s: First Settlers
The earliest
history of the settlement of Fayette
County begins with Stephen F. Austin’s
father, Moses Austin, who received
permission from Spain in 1821 to settle
in Texas. Prior to that time, it was the
native American Toncahua tribe (west of
the Colorado River) and the Lipan tribe
(east of the Colorado River) who
populated the land, fishing and hunting;
Comanche and Keechi tribes made
excursions around the region. Before
Moses Austin could begin his project,
however, he became ill and hence asked
his son, Stephen F., to carry out his
plans. Mexico won independence from
Spain that year and in 1823 the Austin
land grant was confirmed by the new
Mexican government, even as “Anglo”
settlers were already moving into the
area. Mexico welcomed having Texas
populated in part as way of stabilizing
the region. Austin’s land grant was
quite large and he divided the land
among the Old (or Original) Three
Hundred as such: farmers received “one
labor of land” (177 acres) and ranchers
raising stock received “one league” or
“sitio” (4428 acres). In the 1820s the
inhabitants of the area were mostly
these Anglos, or “Texians” as Anglos
were called; “Tejanos” were Texans of
Hispanic descent.
Several of
Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred
settled in the Fayetteville area
including John Crier, Captain James J.
Ross and Judge James Cummins. Ross and
Cummins lent their names to area sites:
Ross Prairie and Cummins Creek. James J.
Ross arrived in the Austin colony
sometime in late 1822 or early 1823. In
December 1823 Austin appointed him
captain of the militia of the Colorado
district. He received title to one
league of land in present-day Colorado
County on July 19, 1824 and in 1828
purchased another league and a half of
land along the Colorado River in
southern Fayette County. He built a
house near where Ross Creek empties into
the Colorado River. He was killed in
1835 and buried near his homestead on a
small hill locally known as Ross
Cemetery.
Earliest
Days in Fayetteville
A road from
Old San Felipe to Bastrop via
Fayetteville already existed by 1833 and
after the revolution, Fayetteville, with
its tavern or stage hotel and mercantile
stores, was a stop on that stagecoach
road. The Munger family was one of
earliest settlers and had a Mercantile
Store on the Square in Fayetteville as
early as the 1830s. (It is the current
“Red & White Store.”) Dr. A. P. Manley
maintained an office and a stock of
medicines.
Other early
“Anglo” settlers included Green L. and
Reddin R. Andrews, E. E. and James
Blackwell, 37 members of the Breeding
family, Dr. D. C. Gregory and Umbleton
Gregory (the latter had fought in the
War of 1812), David Wade and others.
Revolutionary War Figures from
Fayetteville
At least
nine men from Fayetteville served in the
fight for Texas independence. They
include Jerome B. Alexander who fought
at the Battle of San Jacinto and was
killed in the Dawson Massacre, and
Andrew Crier, son of John, who was camp
guard at Harrisburg. Others who fought
at San Jacinto include Fidella S.
Breeding, Abraham Hill and his son James
Monroe Hill and Christian Gotthelf
Wertzner, who may have been the first
permanent German settler in Fayette
County. William P. Smith served as
military surgeon.
Early
Schools in Fayetteville
In 1834 the
Breeding family established the area’s
first school a few miles west of
Fayetteville in a log house on their
land. Children from the Breeding family,
the Burnham family, the Alexander family
and others attended. (A historical
marker located on Hwy 159 west of
Fayetteville marks the place.)
Later, from
1849 to 1858, the Fayetteville Academy
taught dozens of local area students.
(The school was chartered on November
26, 1850; it was known both as Fayette
Academy and Fayetteville Academy.) The
school’s teachers included Baptist
minister P. B. Chandler and then later
Methodist minister William P. Smith. A
historical marker near the City and
Catholic Cemeteries, across the railroad
tracks, shows the location of the
school.
In 1860, the
Fayetteville Male and Female Academy
opened as a successor to the
Fayetteville Academy with 88 students,
some from out-of-town who boarded at the
school. Here students attended classes
in music as well. The Civil War likely
caused the school to close.
German
Immigration
By the
1830s, some German immigrants were
settling in Fayetteville, one of the
first of which was likely Christian
Gotthelf Wertzner, who fought in the war
for Texas independence. German
immigration increased in the 1840s: many
German-speaking immigrants were fleeing
oppression in the new Austro-Hungarian
empire. Among the outstanding early
German citizens in Fayetteville are
Heinrich Eilers, Joseph F. M. Sarrazin,
Henry Kurtz, Charles August Langlotz,
William and O. H. Meitzen, Max Meitzen,
Sigbert Frank Steves, Hugo W. Zapp and
others.
Fayetteville’s Prior Names:
Fayetteville
had many monikers, names and nicknames
in its early years. The settlement was
called Wadis Post Office in 1835. In
1837, Jesse H. Cartwright, a sort of
early real estate agent, placed an
advertisement in the Telegraph and
Texas Register selling lots in
“Fayetteville,” though in early 1838 the
town was referred to as “Alexander’s
voting place” by the Commissioner’s
Court of Fayette County; Samuel
Alexander was Justice of the Peace and
Jerome B. Alexander a district clerk.
Fayetteville was also known as Lick
Skillet (Lickskillet), supposedly for
the fact that latecomers to the numerous
community festivals who complained that
all the food was gone were told to “lick
the skillet.”
Following
the establishment of Fayette County in
1837 by the Congress of the Republic of
Texas came the official founding of the
community of Fayetteville. Suggestion
was likely made that the new town be
called “Shaverville” after civic leader
Philip J. Shaver. But instead it was
named Fayetteville in 1844, for Shaver’s
birthplace of Fayetteville, North
Carolina. In 1847, Shaver systematically
surveyed and laid out the streets and
blocks. He seems to have bought most of
the land still available, donating lots
to the Fayetteville Academy, the Union
Church and the City Cemetery.
Fayetteville was incorporated on March
2, 1882.
Czech
Immigration to Fayetteville
In 1853,
came the first wave of migrants from
Bohemia to the area; Tom Batla is said
to be the first permanent Czech resident
of Fayetteville. A second wave of
immigrants arrived in 1856, many of
which were from Moravia as well. Like
the German-speaking immigrants, they
were fleeing oppression in the new
Austro-Hungarian empire. The first
Czech-speaking immigrants were largely
Protestant and the second group
primarily Catholic. Fayetteville is
known as the “cradle of Czech
immigration to Texas” in that, after the
Civil War, most Czech immigrants to the
U.S. went to Fayetteville first, helped
in part by Frank J. Spacek, who helped
them find jobs and housing.
Early
Life in Fayetteville.
Dr. William
P. Smith describes Fayetteville in 1851
as having two stores (Munger
Mercantile), a blacksmith shop, a
church, a school (Fayetteville Academy),
a Justice of the Peace and a constable.
Fayetteville had a post office and a
postmaster during the Republic of Texas.
In fact, Fayetteville has had continuous
postal service since 1850.
During the
early years the local economy was based
largely on subsistence farming, but
during the late 1840s and 1850s a
thriving plantation economy emerged. In
the early 1850s plantations were
producing impressive quantities of corn
and shipping tobacco, wool and cotton to
outside markets.
Buildings in
Fayetteville from the mid-19th
century still standing include: the
two-story Red & White Store (corner of
W. Main St. and S. Live Oak St.) was
built about 1835 by S. S. Munger and is
believed to be the oldest commercial
building in the area. Munger had his
home (112 W. Main St.) built about 1850
with a detached kitchen. In 1847, Henry
Steves’ home was built at 105 E. Fayette
St. Dating to as early as the 1860s is
the Compton-Zapp House (corner of N.
Washington St. and Market St.) which was
occupied by many prominent Fayetteville
residents including the Zapp family who
lived in the house from 1865 to 1945.
Its central hall plan is typical of
Texas vernacular homes of the time.
The Sarrazin
Mercantile Store (107 N. Washington St.)
was built in 1875, the same year as the
E. J. Knesek Building (corner of N. Live
Oak St. and W. Fayette St.); one of its
first owners was Frank J. Spacek, an
agent for the newly arrived Czech
immigrants. The right part of the
building once housed the first town
newspaper, Vestnik, printed by
the SPJST, then later the
Fayetteville Fact newspaper. Also
from the 1870s is the Kaderka Building
(119 W. Fayette St.). The first occupant
was a bakery providing delicious Czech
baked goods.
The
two-story precinct courthouse was built
in 1880, holding its first court on
February 17, 1881. The old jail still
exists on the second floor, complete
with leg irons attached. A calaboose was
added in 1887.
Fayetteville in the Late 19th
Century
By the 1870s
nearly all of the early Anglo settlers
had left Fayetteville, and the
population of Fayetteville was
predominantly Czech and German. Despite
a large Czech-Moravian population, there
was no Czech-speaking priest until
Father Josef Chromcik arrived in the
area and celebrated the first Czech
Catholic service on December 25, 1872.
Fayetteville’s citizens were
instrumental in the formation of two of
the first Czech insurance and fraternal
organizations in the state and in the
nation—the KJT (Katolická jednota
texaská) and the SPJST (Slovanská
podporující jednota statu Texas, known
in English as the Slavic Benevolent
Order of the State of Texas).
Fayetteville
was incorporated on March 2, 1882. In
October 1887 the Taylor, Bastrop and
Houston Railway built a line through the
town.
A fire
consumed the east side of the Square in
1893, prompting the installation of a
city waterworks and the establishment of
a fire department. The Schumacher Bank
opened on the east side of the Square in
1900; it eventually merged with another
bank to form the Fayetteville Bank.
Fayetteville in the Early 20th
Century:
The red,
two-story Fayetteville Public School
(west Hwy 159 near city limit) was built
in 1911: ground was broken on Monday,
February 13, 1911 on land purchased from
J. R. Kubena and on July 19, 1911, its
completion celebrated: all of the
businesses closed and the entire town,
as well as large crowds from neighboring
towns and communities, gathered and
processed around the Square and out to
the new school building. The opening
ceremonies included speeches by the
trustees, music by the Baca Band and
school children waving flags. Upon the
conclusion of the addresses and after a
photograph was taken of the assembly, a
bountiful supply of BBQ, pickles, bread
and cake, and liquid refreshments were
served at the Germania School building,
down the road. At night, a ball was held
which was well attended and greatly
enjoyed by everyone.
The
Fayetteville Ice Plant and the Power
Plant (on E. Main St. near S. Live Oak)
were opened in the 20th
century. The Power Plant provided
electricity for Fayetteville residents
for scheduled periods during the day,
though in 1920, a petition was signed
protesting its air pollution! The Ice
Plant continued until the 1960s. The
Water Tower (near corner of S. Scott St.
and E. Main St.) was built in the 1920s
and is one of the best examples of its
kind.
The
Courthouse Square bandstand gazebo was
built in 1932, and the four-faced town
clock erected in 1934 by the
Fayetteville women’s “Do Your Duty”
club, in advance of the Texas
Centennial. The two granite markers on
the west side of the Square commemorate
Fayetteville’s founders (erected in
1936) and the 1937 sewer project.
by Katherine
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Bibliography:
www.tsha.utexas.edu
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Hewitt, W.
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Kuykendall,
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Lotto,
Frank. Fayette County: Her History
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