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 Texas : Towns A-Z / Central Texas South :

HEMPSTEAD, TEXAS

Waller County Seat, Central Texas South
US 290 and Hwy 6, Hwy 159
51 miles NW of Houston
22 miles E of Brenham
16 miles NE of Bellville

Population: 4,691 (2000) 4,654 (1990)

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Hempstead water tower




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

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Waller County Courthouse
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
Waller County Courthouse detail
Liendo Plantation TX
Liendo Plantation

Hempstead Attractions

Liendo Plantation: Private residence, but open one Saturday per month. Former home of Elisabet Ney, the famous sculptress who commuted between Hempstead and Austin on horseback.
She, husband and baby are all buried on the grounds.
  • Love in the Time of Diphtheria:
    Liendo Plantation, “Miss” Elizabet Ney and Dr. Edmund Montgomery

  • "Formosa" - Ney's castle-like residence/studio in Austin.

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  • Hempstead Tx  Sauney Chapel
    Sauney Chapel west of Hempstead
    Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2004
    More Texas Churches
    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
    A feed store in Hempstead, Texas


    A feed store in Hempstead
    TE Photo

    Hempstead Chamber of Commerce

    PO Box 517 Hempstead, TX 77445
    Phone: 979-826-8217
    http://chamber.hempsteadtexas.org/

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