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Victoria County TX
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COLETOVILLE, TEXAS


Victoria County, Texas Gulf Coast

Near Coleto Creek Reservoir on unnurmbered county roads
10 Miles W of Victoria the county seat
Population Unknown

Book Hotel Here › Victoria Hotels

Raisin TX Coleto Creek Joseph Kobitz Family, 1900s  vintage photo
Joseph Kobitz Family near Coleto Creek
1900s photo courtesy Frank Brown

History in a Pecan Shell

Originally named Steiner's Settlement, after early German Carl Steiner. The settlement dates from the 1850s and is included in what is known collectively as "The Coleto Creek Communities." Over the years the name was changed to Coletoville after the creek that borders the communtity.

The town had the envious position of being on the Old Goliad Road although that fact didn't guarantee long-term prosperity. The community had a Lutheran church by 1872 and a post office was granted three years later. A two-acre site for the church and cemetery site was set aside and today the cemetery (shown on the Victoria County TxDoT map) is the best way to find the site of the community.

The post office was discontinued in 1877, and the village store lasted only seven more years. The nearby town of Raisin got the railroad when the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway came through in 1889. The Goliad-Victoria road also bypassed Coletoville and Raisin became the dominant town. The communities are consided a merger by many since they are only five miles apart. Together the population of Raisin-Coletoville was only 50 throughout most of the Twentieth Century. Many descendents of the early settlers continue to live in the area.

TX -  Coletoville Community road sign
Coletoville Community road sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, May 2013


TX -  Coletoville Cemetery
Coletoville Cemetery with historical marker
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, May 2013
More Texas Cemeteries

Historical Marker: (on 2533 Coletoville Road East)

Coletoville Cemetery

When an epidemic of diphtheria hit the German settlement of Steinerville, established in 1849, two of August and Thekla Spitzer's children died. Ten-year-old Henry and six-year-old Robert were buried by their parents in 1872 on this site. In May of 1872, the Spitzer's deeded the land to the trustees of the new school and evangelic German church of the German community of Steinerville. The community was later renamed Coletoville for the nearby Coleto Creek. Both Thekla and August Spitzer are buried in the cemetery. The oldest birth dates are those of Eva Voigt and Joseph Weiser, both born in 1812. Several veterans of major American and international conflicts are interred here.

In 1970, the church, now called Martin Luther Lutheran Church, deeded the cemetery land to the Coletoville Cemetery Association. The church and cemetery became two separate institutions for the first time, though community members of all faiths have traditionally been buried here. Burial sites are marked in rows and spaces rather than in plots, and graves are arranged in consecutive order by date. Many of the oldest markers were originally made of sandstone. A 1997 count revealed 623 marked and 78 unmarked graves.
(1997)

Coletoville TX - Martin Luther Lutheran Church
>Martin Luther Lutheran Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, May 2013
More Texas Churches


Raisin Coletoville TX Beck Family , 1900s
Beck Family in the Raisin/Coletoville area
1900s photo courtesy Frank Brown
See Raisin Texas Families - 1900s Vintage Photos

Take a road trip

Texas Gulf Coast

Coletoville, Texas Nearby Towns:
Victoria the county seat
Raisin
See Victoria County

Book Hotel Here:
Victoria Hotels | More Hotels

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact us.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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