Homesite of Theodore Rabroker

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker for Theodore Rabroker's homesite, right here in Falls County. Now settle in, because this one's got a founder, a vision, a storm, and a fire, and the story earns every last one of them. In 1866, Theodore Rabroker, born in 1835, and his wife Mary Ann, born in 1836 and née Brucktops, pulled up from Westphalia Province, Germany, and made their way across the ocean.

They didn't come straight to Texas. No, they lived for a time in Pennsylvania, and then Iowa, the way a river sometimes winds before it finds its course. Then came 1877.

Rabroker was moving his family toward Frelsburg, over in Colorado County, when he passed through this stretch of Falls County land. Something stopped him. Not a breakdown, not bad weather.

Just the sight of that fertile ground. He looked at it and he visualized, that's the word the marker uses, he visualized a German-Catholic community right here. Two years he let that picture sit in his mind.

Then in 1879, he and Mary Ann and their three children became the first settlers on this land. Once he was rooted, Rabroker moved fast. In 1881 he purchased two hundred and seventeen acres from a man named William Neyland, and he became Neyland's land agent.

His pitch to the families back in Frelsburg was simple enough: come here. And to make sure they'd stay, he provided a place for prospective residents to live until they bought property. He wasn't just selling land.

He was building something. He kept the circle tight, too. Only German-Catholics were invited to settle within a five-mile radius, and that decision, according to the marker, resulted in strong community traditions.

The community even had a name: Westphalia, carrying the old country right into central Texas. The first Mass was celebrated in 1882 by the Reverend John Lauth, and it happened right inside the Rabroker home, about four hundred yards west of where you're standing. That house became the center for village religious and civic life.

It held the community together until a church building was completed in February 1884. Two months. That's all the new church got.

Because in May of 1884, a storm destroyed the structure. Now, a lesser man might have sat down in the rubble and reconsidered his vision. Rabroker led efforts to erect a new church edifice.

And by July of 1884, it was complete. Mary Ann Rabroker, that first partner in all of it, died, the marker gives her year as 1886. After her death, Rabroker married Theresa Halfman, born in 1854, and they had six children together.

Theresa lived until 1932. Theodore Rabroker himself was born in 1835 and died in 1905. The home that held the first Mass, that sheltered newcomers until they found their footing, that stood at the center of everything Rabroker built, was destroyed by fire in 1975.

The community of Westphalia outlasted it. That's what a vision looks like when it holds.

What the marker says

Founder of Westphalia Community In 1866 Theodore Rabroker (1835-1905) and his wife Mary Ann (Brucktops) (1836-1886) immigrated from Westphalia Province, Germany. They lived for a time in Pennsylvania and Iowa. In 1877, while moving to Frelsburg, Colorado County, Rabroker saw the fertile land in this area and visualized a German-Catholic community here. In 1879 he and his wife and three children became the first settlers. In 1881 Rabroker purchased 217 acres from William Neyland and became Neyland's land agent, encouraging Frelsburg families to come here. Rabroker provided a place for prospective residents to live until they bought property. Only German-Catholics were invited to settle within a five-mile radius; this resulted in strong community traditions. The Rev. John Lauth celebrated the first Mass in 1882 in the Rabroker home (400 yds. W). The residence served as the center for village religious and civic activities until a church building was completed in February 1884. After a storm destroyed the structure in May, Rabroker led efforts to erect a new church edifice, complete in July 1884. After his first wife died, Rabroker married Theresa Halfman (1854-1932) and they had six children. The Rabroker home was destroyed by fire in 1975.