City of Luling
Luling, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded when Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad line intersected a main wagon road from South Texas to Austin. Many families of the Atlanta community (3 mi. SE) relocated here. Plum Creek Post Office, opened nearby in 1848, also moved here and was renamed Luling. The city was chartered Sept. 19, 1874. Original mayor was W. H. McClelland. The first aldermen were Jesse R. Bond, L. C. Cunningham, J. N. Stagner, Mike Tierney, and L. C. Wilder. Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio locator James Converse platted the townsite on Oct. 15, 1874. The G.H. & S.A. gave land for four public parks, and its president, T. W. Peirce, willed $2,000.00 to the town. Terminus of the railroad until mid-1875, Luling had heavy shipping and trade in its infancy. In late 1874 the population was 800 to 1,000, including drifters who gave the place an early reputation as a tough town. The law-abiding, however, established churches, schools, and stability, and within a few years the railroad boom town was only a legend. An oil boom began in 1922, and 125 producing wells have now been drilled within the city limits. Three major oil fields surround the town, which in later years has become also an agribusiness center.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Luling sprang up in 1874 where the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad crossed a main wagon road, drawing in whole communities and a relocated post office and chartering as a city that September. As the railroad's terminus into 1875 it boomed with shipping, drifters, and a reputation as a tough town before churches and schools settled it down. A 1922 oil strike opened a new chapter, with scores of producing wells drilled inside the city limits.
Why it matters
Luling's arc from rowdy railhead to oil town captures the twin engines—rails and petroleum—that built so many Texas communities between the Gilded Age and the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · W. H. McClelland
- · James Converse
- · T. W. Peirce
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Luling
Luling, TX
When the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad surveyed Luling in 1874, it deeded land for churches — and in 1877 the Rev. Philip H. Hensley gathered fourteen people to organize a Presbyterian congregation. They built this sanctuary in 1882, later removing its spire and bell during repairs and adding a Sunday school annex, as membership grew to a peak of 92 by 1962.
Edgar B. Davis, Oil Pioneer-Philanthropist
Luling, TX
Edgar B. Davis came to Luling after careers in Massachusetts shoe manufacturing and overseas rubber planting, and in 1922 his wildcat gamble brought in the Luling Oil Field — 215 producing wells by 1926. Rather than simply pocketing the fortune, he handed his employees $2,500,000 in bonuses and endowed the Luling Foundation to advance agriculture and opportunity in the area. Its work in soil conservation and crop and livestock improvement carried his vision forward, and he remained in the community until his death.
The Fritz Zedler Home
Luling, TX
Born in Germany in 1840, Fritz Zedler came to Texas as a boy and, after moving to Luling in 1884, built up the thriving enterprise known as Zedler's Mill. In 1900 he raised this ten-room, four-porch house from his own plans, a monument to his prosperity. It stayed in the family until 1964 and was later bought and carefully restored, earning recognition as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Zedler's Mills
Luling, TX
In 1874 John and James Merriwether and Leonidas Hardeman raised a gristmill and sawmill on this spot, damming the San Marcos River with stone to harness its power. New owners operating as the Luling Water Power Company added a cotton gin in 1884, and by 1888 milling veteran Fritz Zedler had bought out the stock and brought his sons into the family firm. For decades the Zedlers not only ground grain but supplied the town of Luling with water and, later, electric power, until operations wound down around 1960.