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The History of Weimar, Texas

WEIMAR, TEXAS. Weimar is on U.S. Highway 90 and Interstate Highway 10, eighty-seven miles west of Houston in western Colorado County. It was founded in 1873 in anticipation that the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway were going to build through the site. The community was first called Jackson, after D. W. Jackson, a native Georgian and area landowner who donated land for the railroad right-of-way and the town site. The populace subsequently chose the name Weimar; an early record states that Thomas W. Peirce, who authorized Jackson to sell lots at the site, had visited Weimar, Germany, and was favorably impressed. The Weimar post office was established in 1873. The town was incorporated in 1875.

After beginning with a few hundred townspeople, Weimar had by its tenth birthday achieved a population of over 1,000. As it grew Weimar established itself as a center of trade for pecans, poultry, and dairy products. By 1877 the town was large enough to make its first city map. In 1888 Weimar witnessed the origin of the Weimar Mercury, which remained in publication in 1989. Throughout the twentieth century Weimar enjoyed a slow yet steady growth in population, increasing on an average by 250 persons every ten years. Business establishments held their numbers steady at around seventy.

After a high population of 2,400 in 1976, the town declined slightly in the following decade. In 1980 the population was 2,128. Local industries include meat processing, tooling and sheet-metal works, and manufacturing of gaskets. Agriculture continues to play an important role, as Weimar continues to trade in feed grain, poultry, corn, pecans, and beef. The former GH&SA railroad remains in service today as part of the Southern Pacific system. In 1990 the population of Weimar was 2,052.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Hinton, Weimar, Texas: First 100 Years, 1873-1973 (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1973). Fred I. Massengill, Texas Towns: Origin of Name and Location of Each of the 2,148 Post Offices in Texas (Terrell, Texas, 1936).

Ken Hendrickson

Copyright - The Texas State Historical Association