Nada
Nada, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located on land once included in Stephen F. Austin's colony, the community of Nada was first settled in the 1880s by German and Czech immigrants. John William Schoellman brought his family here from nearby Frelsburg in 1881. He built the area's first store, which was operated by his son, John Henry Schoellmann. Other early settlers included the families of Joseph Laby, Florian Frnka, Gerhard Eggemeyer, Ernest Krenk, Joseph Schneider, and Diedrich Frels. A public school, known as Red Bluff, opened in 1883. In 1889 the Schoellmann and Laby families donated land for a Catholic Church and Parochial School. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1896 and has served as a center of community activities since that time. A U.S. post office was established in 1894 with William Engbrock as postmaster and the town was named Nada. By 1904 the community boasted homes, schools, stores, a church, cotton gin, and dance hall. Nada has remained an agricultural community. Many descendants of pioneer German and Czech settlers continue to live in the area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Nada grew on land once part of Stephen F. Austin's colony, settled beginning in the 1880s by German and Czech immigrant families who built stores, schools, and a Catholic parish. The founding of a public school in 1883, a post office in 1894, and the Church of the Nativity in 1896 anchored a farming community that by 1904 boasted a cotton gin, stores, and a dance hall. Its descendants still work the same agricultural land generations later.
Why it matters
Nada reflects the wave of Central European immigration that transformed the Texas prairie into a patchwork of tight-knit farming communities in the late nineteenth century.
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Related people
- · John William Schoellman
- · John Henry Schoellmann
Themes & tags
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