Six Mile-Royal Community
Port Lavaca, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Phillips Investment Company issued deeds to the property on this site to Josef Marek and John Drgac in December 1894. The area, soon called Marekville, attracted Czech and German settlers with a bumper cotton crop in its first year. The first school building was erected in 1895; a post office opened in 1905, taking the name Royal after the county commissioner. The Six-Mile name is believed to come from a local watering hole; from Port Lavaca, it was "six miles to water." This name was used formally as early as 1907 by the Six Mile Farmers Union. The post office closed in 1910, but the area continued to grow. In 1997, about 200 families still resided in the area. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In December 1894 the Phillips Investment Company deeded land here to Josef Marek and John Drgac, and the settlement—soon called Marekville—drew Czech and German farmers with a bumper first cotton crop. A school rose in 1895 and a post office named Royal opened in 1905, while the enduring "Six Mile" name recalled that it was six miles to water from Port Lavaca. Though the post office closed in 1910, the farming community kept growing for generations.
Why it matters
Six Mile-Royal is a snapshot of the immigrant homesteading that turned the Texas coastal prairie into productive farmland, one family and cotton crop at a time.
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Related people
- · Josef Marek
- · John Drgac
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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