West-Wagner Homestead
Hallettsville, Lavaca County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Washington West and his wife Mary Willauer West moved their family from Tennessee in 1854 and settled in Lavaca County, Texas. Their home became a stagecoach stop which developed into the community of Old Sweet Home. The Wests' sons George, Ike and Sol drove longhorn cattle to markets in Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming from 1867-85. George married Catherine (Kittie) Searcy in 1874, and in 1875 built this Greek revival style home on family land. George West's ranching interests expanded to several south Texas counties. They moved to Live Oak County in 1880 and later established the town of George West on a portion of their 200,000 acre ranch. In 1883 George and Kittie West sold the Lavaca County homestead to Ike and Emma West, who sold it in 1891 to Frank and Anna Wagner. Natives of Czechoslovakia, the Wagners had lived at the West homestead doing ranch and farm work. Here they reared their six children, Frank Jr., Jim, John, Anton, Joe and Mary. In 1918 Frank and Anna Wagner deeded the homestead to their youngest son, Anton Wagner. His brother and sister, Joe and Mary, lived in the house until the 1950s. The West-Wagner homestead remains in the Wagner Family. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Washington West moved his family from Tennessee to Lavaca County in 1854, and their home grew into a stagecoach stop and the community of Old Sweet Home. Their sons drove longhorns up the trails to Kansas and beyond, and in 1875 George West built the Greek Revival house that anchors this homestead before founding the town of George West on his vast South Texas ranch. In 1891 the place passed to Frank and Anna Wagner, Czech immigrants who had worked the land and whose family holds it still.
Why it matters
The West-Wagner homestead braids together the great themes of frontier Texas — stagecoach travel, the longhorn cattle drives, and the European immigrants who put down lasting roots on the land.
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Related people
- · Washington West
- · George West
- · Frank Wagner
- · Anna Wagner
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Sweet Home
Sweet Home, TX
Settled in the mid-1800s along the old Spanish trail between Houston and San Antonio, Sweet Home grew into a thriving trading and stagecoach stop after a post office opened in 1852. During the Civil War it sheltered Confederate winter camps and freight wagons hauling supplies toward Brownsville, and afterward it became ranching country, with cattleman George West and an influx of Czech and German immigrants. When the railroad laid tracks five miles south in 1887, businesses relocated and the original townsite faded into a cemetery and a few scattered remnants.
Shiner-Welhausen Homestead
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In 1875 Henry B. Shiner staked out a cattle operation on this Lavaca County land, part of the great post-war expansion of ranching across central Texas. When the railroad pushed through in 1887, Shiner gave land for a townsite that took his name, and the homestead passed to the Welhausen family, who still hold it. Long after the last round-up, the property stayed a gathering place for picnics, ballgames, and community life.
Shiner
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Shiner grew out of the German-Czech settlement of Half Moon when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad arrived in 1887 and residents moved to the line, where Victoria landowner H. B. Shiner had donated a townsite. Built up by cattlemen, the town developed industries including a brewery and a wire works. Today it keeps a museum recording its immigrant heritage.
Yoakum
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