S.P.J.S.T. Lodge No. 47, Hvezda Texasu
Temple, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In January 1903, Frank Motl and J.F. Sefcik led Seaton men in forming an order of the SPJST (Slovanská Podporujicí Jednota Statu Texas), a Czech benevolent society. Members of Hvezda Texasu, the Texas "Star" Lodge, met in Thomas Mikulastik's blacksmith shop and the Seaton School before building their first lodge hall in 1906 at this site. They added more land and facilities over the years, including a larger hall. The Star Lodge has supported programs in drama, gymnastics, traditional dance and choir, as well as the Red Cross, youth groups and political rallies. It has also hosted community activities, including dances, reunions, meetings and area agricultural fairs. (2004)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In January 1903, Frank Motl and J.F. Sefcik led Seaton's Czech settlers in forming a lodge of the SPJST, a Czech benevolent society, taking the name Hvezda Texasu — the Texas "Star" Lodge. Members first met in a blacksmith shop and the Seaton School before building their first hall here in 1906, adding land and larger facilities over the years. The lodge nurtured drama, gymnastics, traditional dance, and choir while hosting dances, reunions, and agricultural fairs.
Why it matters
Fraternal lodges like this one helped Czech immigrants sustain their language, culture, and mutual aid as they put down roots in central Texas.
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Related people
- · Frank Motl
- · J.F. Sefcik
- · Thomas Mikulastik
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Seaton Cemetery
Temple vicinity, TX
The Lost Prairie–Seaton community was settled in the 1880s by Czech immigrants and once supported a post office, school, store, and saloon. After Tomas Ondrasek died in 1896, Charles Motl Sr. donated two acres for a community cemetery, and a burial association formed the next year. Among its roughly 1,150 graves are veterans of both World Wars and the Korean conflict, and the cemetery still serves the surrounding community.
Seaton Brethren Church
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Czech Moravian immigrants, heirs to the centuries-old "Unity of the Brethren" tradition rooted in the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, began settling this part of central Texas in 1881, drawn by both religious freedom and farmland. By 1891 the community had a post office and the name Seaton, and in 1906 residents organized the Seaton Czech Moravian Brethren Church, dedicating their first sanctuary the following year. The congregation grew across the decades, built a larger sanctuary in 1924, and remains a spiritual and cultural anchor for the area's Czech heritage.
Maruna Meadow
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When Czech immigrants reached Bell County in 1881, they found the Blackland Prairie strikingly like the farmland they had left behind. As neighbors plowed the surrounding grassland into fields, the Maruna family left these 18 acres untouched, preserving a rare glimpse of the tallgrass prairie the county's first settlers once saw.
Zabcikville
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