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History in a Pecan
Shell
In 1859 Dr. Charles de Ganahl opened a post office inside his
home on the north side of the Guadalupe
River. Ganahl applied for the post office to be called Zanzenberg after
his Austrian hometown and it was granted under that name.
In 1872 when
the post office moved to the south side of the river, the new postmaster renamed
the post office Center Point since it was both equidistant between Kerrville
and Comfort and Fredericksburg
and Bandera.
In 1888 Charles
de Ganahl's widow Virginia attempted to bolster the sagging population of the
settlement’s north bank by deeding land to the railroad.
The railroad came and built
a depot, however the town which she had hoped to name Ganahl, never materialized.
The 1900 population of Center Point was estimated at 500 with most essential businesses
and a few of the non-essential variety. Center Point was an active trading center
for area ranches and farms through the 1920s.
The area’s reputation as
a retirement haven goes back a long way. It became a popular place for former
Texas Rangers to retire and many tombstones in the town’s cemetery have small
metal crosses alongside them – signifying a Ranger’s grave.
Center Point
spent decades minding its business and enjoying life alongside the river.
The population which was estimated at 800 in the mid 1980s, fell to 625 for the
1990 census but has since rebounded back to 800.
From time to time there’s
a tongue-in-cheek movement to rename the community Zanzenberg since its more in
keeping with other Germanic place names in the Hill Country. |
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| Honk
if you love Center Point. |
| "...and
then the bartender says: I wasn't talking to you - I was talking to the duck!"
TE photos, February 2009 |
| One
of many Texas Ranger grave markers in the Center Point Cemetery. TE photo, February
2009 | |
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