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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.
Hempstead
Landmarks / Attractions |
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The
1894 Waller County Courthouse -
It's a shame that this courthouse is no
longer standing. It was the site of an historic, yet tragic event. According to
the Handbook of Texas Online, John McPherson Pinckney a Confederate veteran, Waller
County Judge and U.S. Congressman, died from a gunshot wound at the old Waller
County courthouse on April 24, 1905 while trying to break up a fight. Pinckney,
a Prohibitionist, and the members of the Prohibition League were meeting at the
courthouse to discuss using the Texas Rangers to enforce a newly enacted prohibition
law. His brother, Thomas, and two other men were also shot and killed. The publicity
surrounding this event in Hempstead, led to the creation of the town's early nickname,
"Six-Shooter Junction." - Terry
Jeanson |
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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...
Cuney died in 1889, and is buried in Galveston. He
was the most remarkable African American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century.
more
Custer
in Texas by
Clay Coppedge
...Gen
Phil Sheridan sent Custer and a thousand or so volunteer troops to Texas in 1866
to help restore and maintain order, but Custer had his hands full maintaining
order among his own troops. The conflict arose over Custer’s refusal to let the
soldiers pillage and plunder the countryside to their heart’s content.
When
they arrived at Hempstead in August of 1866 ... more
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Hempstead
Chamber of Commerce
PO
Box 517 Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-8217
http://chamber.hempsteadtexas.org/
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