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History
in a Pecan Shell
Johan
Reiersen and a portion of The Texas Norwegian Colony transmigrated here from Henderson
County in 1848. The grasslands were originally referred to as Four Mile Prairie
and straddled the line between Van Zandt and Kaufman counties. It was here that
the settlers established Prairieville. They built their homes and plowed their
fields; looking forward to a bright future.
Disaster soon arrived in the
form of disease in the early 1850s, the epidemic killing many and causing some
survivors to abandon East Texas for
the under-populated regions of Bosque County.
Enough settlers remained,
however to keep the town on the map. By 1900 the population had reached just over
200 which was a respectable number for a town without a railroad. By the 1920s
the town was down to one quarter of the 1900 population. The economic history
of Prairieville was typical of most Texas towns
of its size – with the usual essential business.
A post office was granted
in 1854 and continued (with one short-lived closing) until 1954 – closing on its
centennial. During the postwar school consolidations, Prairieville schools merged
with those in Mabank.
Prairieville remains today, with a reported 50 residents
for both the 1990 and the 2000 census. Due to the significance of Norwegian immigration,
Prairieville has been given a historical marker by the Texas Historic Commission.
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Historical
Marker Text Prairieville(site
within Mercer Colony land grant)
Established by colonizer Johan Reinert Reiersen
(1810-64). The 1845 founder of Brownboro (Normandy) in present Henderson County,
who settled here in 1847. Elise Tvede Waerenskjold, Reiersen's aide on his magazine
"Norway and Texas", spurred migration by continuing to write for Norwegian journals.
In 1848 colonists organized a church, Erick Bache in 1853 built a hotel which
served as post office and station on two stage lines. By 1857 Prairieville had
about 80 Norwegians living as neighbors to Anglo-Americans, Danes, Frenchmen,
Germans, Swedes, and other early settlers. | |
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