Fiskville
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Two area pioneers were Josiah Fisk, who arrived in 1846, and Edward Zimmerman, who came in 1854; both brought their families to the farming lands outside Austin. Zimmerman became the first postmaster in 1873, when more than 150 people lived in Fiskville, a dispersed agricultural community along Little Walnut Creek. Most residents were farmers, but the settlement also supported several businesses. These included gins belonging to G.W. Corzine (Cazine), a former slave, and to Andrew Payton. The community and its schools eventually became part of Austin. The Fiskville Cemetery, Zimmerman's 1854 home and area street names serve as links to the early farming settlement. (2005)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fiskville grew up along Little Walnut Creek just outside Austin, seeded by pioneers like Josiah Fisk in 1846 and Edward Zimmerman in 1854. By the time Zimmerman became postmaster in 1873, more than 150 people farmed this dispersed community, which supported cotton gins—including one owned by G.W. Corzine, a formerly enslaved man—and other small businesses. Absorbed into Austin as the city grew, the settlement survives today in its cemetery, Zimmerman's 1854 home, and the street names that still carry its memory.
Why it matters
Fiskville records how freed people and immigrant farmers alike built enterprises in Reconstruction-era Texas, and how such communities were folded into the growing cities around them.
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Related people
- · Josiah Fisk
- · Edward Zimmerman
- · G.W. Corzine
- · Andrew Payton
Themes & tags
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