Riesel

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Riesel, McLennan County. Now, some towns get their start from a grand idea, a big speech, maybe a land grant signed by someone important. Riesel got its start from three things a lot more honest than any of that: good soil, good water, and a railroad close enough to matter.

After the Civil War, cotton farmers took one look at this corner of southeastern McLennan County and decided they'd found what they were lookin' for. They started working the land, and for a while a nearby postal station called Roddy was the closest thing the area had to a downtown. That was fine, as far as it went.

But Roddy wasn't going to be the end of the story. Then came the German settlers, movin' up from Washington County, led by a man of the cloth named the Reverend Friedrich Von Schleumbach. When a preacher leads a migration, you know the community that follows is going to have some intention to it.

And this one did. Still, a community needs more than faith and fertile ground. It needs commerce.

It needs somewhere to take the cotton once you've picked it. That's where William Henry Riesel comes in. In 1890, he built a cotton gin right here, and that gin was the kind of thing that turns a crossroads into a town.

The townsite of Riesel was platted by the Reverend Von Schleumbach himself, the same man who'd led his people up from Washington County, now drawing the lines of the place where they'd put down roots. The settlement grew into an early agricultural center of southeastern McLennan County. A preacher, a gin, and ground worth farming.

That's the founding of Riesel, and it's enough.

What the marker says

Fertile soil, good water,and available rial transportation attracted cotton farmers to this area after the Civil War. They were soon joined by German settlers from Washington County led by the Rev. Friedrick Von Schleumbach. A nearby postal station known as Roddy first served the area, but a town developed here following construction of a cotton gin by William Henry Riesel in 1890. The townsite of Riesel was platted by the Rev. Von Schleumbach and the new settlement grew as an early agricultural center of southeastern McLennan County.