Meyersville

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane tells it back to you. Way out in DeWitt County, there's a little community with a story that starts, like so many Texas stories do, with one man showing up and refusing to leave. That man was Peter Bluntzer.

He came in 1843, and whatever he found out there on that stretch of Texas ground, he must have liked it, because he didn't just stay. He started talking. Word traveled all the way back to Alsace, and folks from that region began making their way over, drawn by Bluntzer's example, settling in around him.

One community, built on one man's word. Then, in 1846, a fellow named Adolph Meyer arrived. Now Meyer must have made quite an impression, because when it came time to put a name on this place, the community reached for his.

Meyersville. And Meyer's home became more than just a residence. In 1851, the post office was established right there at his place.

Imagine that. Your neighbor's house is the post office. You want your mail, you go knock on Adolph's door.

The community kept building itself up through the 1850s, when both a Lutheran church and a Catholic church were founded. Two congregations, one community, out on the Texas prairie. The public school opened in 1899, which means generations of children grew up, learned to read and cipher, and went out into the world carrying a little bit of Meyersville with them.

And then there are the turkeys. The marker calls Meyersville a famous turkey-producing area, and it says so without a single word of apology. Famous.

Not noteworthy. Not modest. Famous.

The population climbed and climbed until it reached its peak right around 1923. One settler from 1843, a name borrowed from an 1846 arrival, a post office in a man's living room, churches, a schoolhouse, and enough turkeys to earn a reputation. That's Meyersville, and that's the whole of it.

What the marker says

Community opened by Peter Bluntzer, an 1843 settler drawing many others from Alsace; named for Adolph Meyer, an 1846 arrival, at whose home post office was established (1851). Lutheran and Catholic churches were founded in 1850s. Public school opened in 1899. Famous turkey-producing area. Population reached peak about 1923.