Elk Community
Axtell, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The first permanent settlers of this area were Martin and Elizabeth McConnel Harper, who arrived from Tennessee with their five children in 1855. Others who settled with the Harpers were Scots-Irish from the American south. The Harper family erected a log cabin, a schoolhouse, and outbuildings on their 160-acre farm. The community acquired the name Harper's School House, and the school also was used for religious activities and local elections. The Harper Cemetery was established by Martin and Elizabeth's son, Moses, in 1861. Lucy Morrow, whose burial was the first recorded in the cemetery, died that year. Czech and German immigrants began settling in the community about 1885. The Elk cotton gin, one of the major businesses in the area, was opened in 1890 by J. W. Mansfield and S. D. McWhorter. Mertie Emma McKinley applied for the establishment of a post office in the community in 1894. Because the name Harper's School House was rejected, Mrs. McKinley chose the name Elk. At that time the community population was 150, and the number served by the post office was 500. At various times, Elk has boasted a Catholic church, barber shop, blacksmith, doctors' offices, gristmill, livery stable, a meat market, a beer hall, cafe, fraternal lodges, several stores, and a service station, telephone exchange, and waterworks. St. Joseph's Catholic Church, established in 1925, remains at the heart of the community, which is surrounded by farmland and houses in the predominately Czech and German Elk community. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Martin and Elizabeth Harper arrived from Tennessee with their five children in 1855, joined by other Scots-Irish families from the American South, and built a cabin, a schoolhouse, and a farm that gave the settlement its first name, Harper's School House. Czech and German immigrants began arriving around 1885, opening a cotton gin and reshaping the community, which took the name Elk when its post office was established in 1894. Over the years Elk boasted stores, a blacksmith, a gristmill, and fraternal lodges, and St. Joseph's Catholic Church, founded in 1925, still stands at the heart of this Czech and German farming community.
Why it matters
Elk shows how successive waves of settlers — Southern Scots-Irish followed by Central European immigrants — layered together to create the distinctive ethnic farming communities of rural Texas.
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Related people
- · Martin Harper
- · Elizabeth McConnel Harper
- · Mertie Emma McKinley
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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