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Hempstead
water tower
TE Photo |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The town was named
after Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead from Portsmouth, Ohio. An oil painting
of Doctor Hempstead is on display in the Hempstead Library.
1856: The Hempstead Town Company is formed in anticipation
of the railroad's arrival.
June 1858: The town becomes the terminus for the Houston and
Texas Central Railroad.
November 1858: The Washington County Railroad from Hempstead
to Brenham is opened
1857: post office is established
1861-1865: Hempstead was a manufacturing center and had three
encampments of Confederate troops stationed in the vicinity. A prisoner
of war camp was also located in Hempstead.
1866: After the war, Union troops were stationed there throughout
reconstruction, much like nearby Brenham.
George Armstrong Custer is stationed in Hempstead for a time.
1873: Becomes Waller
County seat
1872 & 1876: Fires destroy much of the downtown section of
Hempstead
1881: First public school opened
1891: First newspaper started as The Weekly News
1899: Hempstead is disincorporated
1935: Hempstead is reincorporated
Captain Alfred H. Wyly is buried in the Hempstead Cemetery.
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Hempstead,
Texas
Landmarks / Attractions
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People
Norris
Wright Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
Norris Wright Cuney, though born in 1846 on a plantation located
near Hempstead, became a powerful figure in Texas' Republican circles...
Cuney died in 1889, and is buried in Galveston. He was the most
remarkable African American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century.
more
Custer
in Texas by Clay Coppedge
...Gen Phil Sheridan sent Custer and a thousand or so volunteer
troops to Texas in 1866 to help restore and maintain order, but
Custer had his hands full maintaining order among his own troops.
The conflict arose over Custer’s refusal to let the soldiers pillage
and plunder the countryside to their heart’s content.
When they arrived at Hempstead in August of 1866 ... more
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A
feed store in Hempstead
TE Photo |
Hempstead
Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 517 Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-8217
http://chamber.hempsteadtexas.org/
Book Hotel Here Hempstead
Hotels |
Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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