Old Anderson Place
Schulenburg, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Area's oldest occupied house. Built before 1857 by William B. and Rosetta Anderson, three of whose eleven children were born here. Anderson was a carpenter, blacksmith, postmaster in town of Lyons, justice of the peace, notary public (appointed by the Governor of Texas), and sergeant of Lyons Riflemen, C.S.A. Family watched military drills from second story during Civil War. Later owners: Louis Schulenburg, for whom town was named; T. W. Pierce, a principal investor in Galveston, Houston & San Antonio Railroad; and C. A. Rose family, who remodeled house for roomers. (1971)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built before 1857 by carpenter and blacksmith William B. Anderson, this is considered the area's oldest occupied house. Anderson wore many hats—postmaster, justice of the peace, notary, and sergeant of the Lyons Riflemen—and his family reportedly watched Confederate military drills from the second story during the Civil War. Later owners included Louis Schulenburg, the town's namesake, and railroad investor T. W. Pierce.
Why it matters
The house threads together frontier craftsmanship, Civil War-era Texas, and the railroad boom that reshaped Fayette County, all under one long-lived roof.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William B. Anderson
- · Louis Schulenburg
- · T. W. Pierce
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Clear Creek Cemetery
Oakland, TX
The Clear Creek community took root in the 1850s along the Old Gonzales Road, the wagon route linking San Felipe, Columbus, and San Antonio. A Methodist church organized there, and the burial ground that grew beside it served the area for decades, holding more than a dozen Civil War veterans and members of the Sons of Temperance among its marble, granite, and local sandstone markers. When the railroad reached nearby Weimar in 1873, the community faded, but families kept returning to the cemetery, whose last recorded burial came in 1929.
Old Osage
Weimar, TX
This quiet park in Weimar marks a spot that helped decide the Texas Revolution. Jesse Burnam opened a trading post here in 1820, and his ferry across the Colorado River sped Sam Houston's army toward San Jacinto in 1836 — after which Houston burned the crossing to slow Santa Anna's pursuit. The town that later rose here took its name from the Osage orange trees nearby, and in 1861 it became a Confederate recruiting center that raised most of Company A, 5th Texas Cavalry.
Schulenburg
Schulenburg, TX
When the Galveston, Houston & San Antonio Railway reached this spot in 1873, German and Czech settlers from nearby Lyons and High Hill moved to the new townsite at the edge of Fayette County's rolling hills. Named for landowner Louis Schulenburg, the town incorporated in 1875. It became a gateway community shaped by the immigrant cultures that settled central Texas.
Bedstead Truss Bridge (Mulberry Creek Bridge)
Schulenburg, TX
Built in 1888 by the King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland with a Kansas subcontractor, this sixty-foot iron span carried the Old Praha Road across Mulberry Creek and opened easy access to the growing town of Schulenburg. A pin-connected, box-chord modified Pratt low truss — the "bedstead" type — it cost just $1,422 to erect and served a major travel route into the early twentieth century. Few bridges of its distinctive style still stand.