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Browns
Dairy between Eagle Lake and Chesterville, 1922
Photo courtesy Nesbitt Memorial
Library #01635 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The town was the 1894 brainchild of Chicago
land developer John Linderholm. Linderholm purchased 60,000 acres under the name
Southern Texas Colonization Company. The surveyor of the proposed townsite was
one William P. Chester - the town's namesake. Thanks to its railroad connection
and a good first impression, the plan was successful. Many new residents transmigrated
from the Midwest and by 1895 there were enough citizens to warrant a post office.
Chesterville
had a population estimated at 150-200 and a school, several churches and an estimated
twenty businesses at its peak. At the turn of the 20th Century rice farming was
new but expanding rapidly. The acreage around Chesterville was bought up by large
companies for rice production and cattle raising and the population dwindled to
a mere seventy-five by 1914. By the time the Great Depression arrived, Chesterville
was down to only twenty-five people. The post office managed to remain open through
1950.
Last recorded population figures remained at 25 in the mid 1960s.
Today the land is owned or leased to rice farmers. |
| | Chesterville
sign and grain elevator
TE Photo, February 2006 |
| | A
denizen of Chesterville
TE Photo, February 2006 |
| | Migrating
geese heading north in February
TE Photo, 2006 |
| 1940s
Colorado County map showing Chesterville just east of Eagle
Lake. Courtesy Texas General Land Office | |
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