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History
in a Pecan Shell
First settlers to Manda arrived in the second
half of the 1880s, J. Victor Morell gave the community a boost when he built a
steam cotton gin and moved his blacksmith shop from nearby New
Sweden. A Methodist Church was organized in 1892, followed closely by the
building of small chapel by the Lutheran Church of New Sweden.
In 1893
a general store / post office was opened. When the application for a post office
was submitted, it was the diminutive "Manda" (short for Amanda), the sister of
the store owner.
Manda, Decker and New Sweden received telephone connections
in 1899 and the town became a switch
on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The population was a mere 40 people in
1900. In 1909 the Methodists built a frame church, complete with steeple and stained-glass
windows.
Despite the church, school and businesses, the population dropped
to only 20 during the Great Depression. Church services were discontinued in the
1960s and the community's large church bell was given to Elgin's
First Methodist Church while the cornerstone ended up in the Manda cemetery.
Manda students attended other area schools. In 1947 during the statewide
school consolidations, the Manda ISD was formed, lasting until 1963.
Manda's population was given as 20 in the 60s but today all that is left is the
school building pictured here and the Manda Cemetery.
Austin
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Manda Texas
ForumSubject:
The Manda School
• ... About the Readers Comments at the bottom of the
page, a reader described the Manda school building near Kimbro, an old 2 room
school. My father also attended classes there as a boy. I think it was used in
a movie in the 1980’s, the Robert Redford, Waldo Pepper, or something like that.
Very nice website, really enjoyed it. - Mark Thompson, January 13, 2006
• ... As my name suggests I have some German background.
My dad came to the US with his family in 1956 from Hamburg, Germany. The first
town in America they lived in was New Sweden. They attended the New Sweden Lutheran
Church, which we visited again a few years ago. This is where my dad and his family
got used to living in America. My grandparents are buried at the Kimbro Cemetery,
my grandmother died in 1965 and my grandfather in 1983.
Did you ever
see the "Manda" school building? This is a little 2 room school house which was
used for students in New Sweden. My dad attended class at this school. It's in
ruins sadly now, when we went back to New Sweden we went inside and walked around
the building. That was a unique experience to see where my dad went to school
for the first time ever in America. I'm enjoying your web site! - Kevin Lehnhardt,
Austin, Texas. January 08, 2002 001
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- movie location for The Great Waldo Pepper |
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