Site of Hopkinsville
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Once a thriving pioneer community. Founded by D. S. Hopkins (1819-1917), farmer who settled here in 1852. Located in farm-ranch area. Herds started here, bound for Chisholm trail. Abandoned 1873 when the citizens moved south and founded town of Waelder on newly built railroad.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Hopkinsville sprang up after farmer D.S. Hopkins settled here in 1852, growing into a thriving pioneer community in the surrounding farm-and-ranch country. Cattle herds gathered here before striking out for the Chisholm Trail. When a new railroad bypassed the town in 1873, its residents pulled up stakes and moved south to found Waelder, leaving Hopkinsville a memory on the land.
Why it matters
Its abandonment for a railroad town is the classic story of how the rails, not the settlers, decided which Texas communities lived or died.
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Related people
- · D.S. Hopkins
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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