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Nordheim Shooting
Club Dance Hall
Photo Courtesy Will
Beauchamp, October 2008 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
In the 1880s much of land around present-day Nordheim was owned by
H. Runge & Co. of Cuero. With the arrival
of the railroad
(The San Antonio and Aransas Pass) in 1895, a townsite was platted
and a post office opened the following year.
The president of Ringe and Co. suggested the name of his hometown
back in Germany and it has been Nordheim ever since. St. Paul's Evangelical
Lutheran Church organized in 1896 and the town gained a passenger
depot in 1901.
Nordheim got telephone service by 1900 and a newspaper and hotel in
1902. The town’s predominant German population formed numerous social
organizations including a Sons of Hermann lodge as well as a shooting
club and a brass band. A bandstand constructed on Pilot Knob (the
highest point in DeWitt
County) became the town’s social center.
From an estimated population of 122 people in 1902, the town grew
to 400 residents by 1915. Nordheim incorporated in 1917 after the
state proposed a law allowing only incorporated towns to operate saloons.
By 1927 the estimated population peaked at 600 and Nordheim organized
its own Independent School District, drawing in other schools from
surrounding communities.
On May 6, 1930, a tornado struck the town, killing eighteen people.
The devastation of the tornado and the onset of the Great Depression
set the town into a decline and a year after the tornado struck the
population had decreased to 400.
By the early 1950s it had risen to 477 but by the mid 1980s it had
returned to 369. The Nordheim cotton gin managed to stay in operation
until 1970. The Nordheim Brass Band, thought to be the last “continuous
pioneer German brass band in Texas” disbanded in the 1970s. The movie
Paris, Texas, was partially filmed in Nordheim in 1984. |
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Nordheim Shooting
Club Dance Hall
Photo Courtesy Will
Beauchamp, October 2008 |
Nordheim Shooting
Club historical marker
Photo Courtesy Will
Beauchamp, October 2008 |
Pilot Knob historical
marker
on FM 239
Photo Courtesy Will
Beauchamp, October 2008 |
Historical Marker
Pilot Knob
A beacon for early
Texas pioneers. Because this hill could be seen for miles, it guided
travelers from Old
Indianola (on the coast) inland to Helena
and San Antonio during
the 19th century. On the hill, they discovered charred rocks and artifacts
from a previous Indian campground.
The area was first surveyed in 1838 by the Goliad Land District and
in 1886 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad was built through
this region. For years a sign at the Weldon Switch (present
Nordheim) Depot proclaimed its 400-foot elevation was highest on the
line between Houston, San Antonio, and Waco.
In 1895 Nordheim was platted. Afterward numerous German immigrants
were attracted to the area. Under the sturdy oaks on Pilot Knob, young
and old enjoyed typical German and pioneer activities, including band
concerts, shooting matches, harvest and May festivals, and Easter
egg hunts. A refreshment stand and dance platform were built on the
hill, which became the center of social life for Nordheim citizens.
Here the townspeople also buried their dead, and since most activities
had been moved into town by about 1910, Pilot Knob gradually settled
into its present use as the community cemetery.
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| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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