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Hempstead
water tower
TE Photo |
| History in
a Pecan Shell
The town was named after Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead from Portsmouth, Ohio. An oil
painting of Doctor Hempstead is on display in the Hempstead Library.
1856: The Hempstead Town Company is formed in anticipation of the railroad's
arrival.
June 1858: The town becomes the terminus for the Houston and
Texas Central Railroad.
November 1858: The Washington County Railroad
from Hempstead to Brenham is opened
1857: post office is established
1861-1865: Hempstead was a
manufacturing center and had three encampments of Confederate troops stationed
in the vicinity. A prisoner of war camp was also located in Hempstead.
1866:
After the war, Union troops were stationed there throughout reconstruction, much
like nearby Brenham. George Armstrong
Custer is stationed in Hempstead for a time.
1873: Becomes Waller County
seat
1872 & 1876: Fires destroy much of the downtown section of Hempstead
1881: First public school opened
1891: First newspaper started
as The Weekly News
1899: Hempstead is disincorporated
1935:
Hempstead is reincorporated
Captain Alfred H. Wyly is buried in the Hempstead
Cemetery.
Waller County has had four
courthouses ... next page
Hempstead
Hotels
Book Your Hotel Here
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The Waller County Courthouse
A plain building - built in 1955
of limestone and brick
Architect - Herbert Voelcker
Bottom
photo: The subtle detail of the courthouse
TE photos, 2002 |
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People
Norris Wright
Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
Norris Wright Cuney, though born in 1846 on a plantation located near Hempstead,
became a powerful figure in Texas' Republican circles, especially in Galveston.
......
Cuney died in 1889, and is buried in Galveston. He was the most remarkable
African American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century. more
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A
feed store in Hempstead
TE Photo | |
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