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| | North
Zulch Grocery sign
TE Photo, 2001 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Settlement began in the late 1830s when the first
homestead was established in what had been Grimes County. Sometime around 1850
Julius Zulch, a German immigrant recognized the potential of this place that was
known as Willow Hole. It had spring water and was halfway between Midway
and Boonville - the perfect
place to open a store.
Zulch opened his store and in 1859 the Willow
Hole post office operated within the walls of Zulch's store. The settlers (mostly
from southern states) weren't settling fast enough for Julius, who wanted a broader
customer base. He started placing ads back in the old country - even fronting
interested immigrants their passage money.
In the early 1880s, "considerable
numbers" of Germans arrived - either sharecropping for Zulch or others in order
to get a grubstake for their own farms. Willow Hole soon had a respectable population
of 150 - growing to around 500 by 1890.
Julius Zulch built a Lutheran
school which doubled as a church. In 1893 the Bethlehem Lutheran Church was built
on property donated by Zulch. The town was renamed Zulch in 1906 and the
postal authorities authorized the change of the post office's name.
That same year the Houston and Texas Central Railroad on its way from Navasota
to Mexia bypassed Zulch by building to the west. |
| | West
Zulch sign
TE Photo, 2001 |
| | East
Zulch sign
TE Photo, 2001 |
Then in
1907, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway built a spur parallel to the Houston
and Texas Central tracks. When people moved North to the railroads - North
Zulch came into existence and plain Zulch shrank. The post office closed in
1920 and the school managed to hold on until a consolidation in the early 1940s.
By 1949 Zulch was down to only 50 people and by the 60s, only the Willow
Hole Church and Cemetery remained.
A historical marker on Farm Road 39,
(half a mile west) serves as tombstone for the town. |
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Old gas station in North Zulch
TE Photo, 2001 | |
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