RABKE, TEXAS

Texas Ghost Town
DeWitt County, Central Texas South

FM 2718
9 Miles SE of Yorktown
10 Miles SW of Cuero, the county seat
Population: Unknown

Book Hotel Here › Cuero Hotels

Rabke Methodist Church
Photo Courtesy Will Beauchamp

History in a Pecan Shell

Named for the surname of a German family who settled here, the town came into being in the last decade of the 19th Century. A German Methodists church in was buit in 1894 and the town’s grocery was run by Ed Rabke from the mid 1890s through 1916. Within the store the town’s post office operated from 1898 until it closed in 1905.

Rabke stopped appearing on state maps in the mid 1930s.

Historical Marker (FM 2718, 8 miles west of Cuero)

The Five-Mile (Ratcliffe)-
Rabke Community

When four well-educated German families settled on Five Mile Creek in 1849, the community was called Latiner for their knowledge of Latin. Capt. Robert Kleberg (1803-88), Battle of San Jacinto veteran, was one early resident. In the 1880s, the German settlement of Rabke grew up nearby. Edward Rabke's store housed the post office, 1898-1905, and Woodmen of the World Lodge. Local children attended Five Mile School, which moved to the Ratcliffe farm in 1921. Except for Rabke Methodist Church, the early community landmarks have disappeared.
1985

The Five-Mile (Ratcliffe) -
Rabke Community historical marker
Photo Courtesy Will Beauchamp

Rabke Methodist Church 1894
Photo Courtesy Will Beauchamp
More Texas Churches

1907 DeWitt County Postal Map showing Rabke
between Cuero & Yorktown
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Take a road trip

Rabke, Texas Nearby Towns:
Yorktown
Cuero, the county seat
See DeWitt County | Central Texas South

Book Hotel Here:
Cuero Hotels | More Hotels

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic photos, please contact us.