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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town was established in 1899 as a German Catholic colony and named
after the capital of Westphalia, Germany. The Flusche brothers (Emil
and August) were land agents under contract to sell 22,000 acres to
immigrant settlers - within two years. The brothers had had success
in Iowa and Kansas so even before platting a new town, settlers were
transmigrating from their Iowa and Kansas homes. By the end of 1889,
thirty-some people had arrived and on December 8, they celebrated
a Mass by the Reverend H. Brickley of Gainesville.
That date is considered the founding date of the town.
In 1887 Gainesville and Henrietta
were connected by a branch line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
Railroad which added Muenster as a stop. The population statistics
for the early years aren't available, but in the 1980s, Muenster had
1,408 residents, many of them descendents of the original colonists.
The population reached 1,387 in 1990 and has since increased to 1,556.
Muenster holds a "Germanfest" each Spring. |
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