DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, pull up a chair, because this is the kind of story where a man builds something from nothing — and then watches the railroad take it right back. Johann Neusser, also known as Jan Naizer, was a Moravian immigrant who came to Texas in 1872 and put down roots in Fayette County.
He wasn't alone in that — plenty of fellow immigrants had made the same journey, the same leap. But in 1881, Neusser and a number of those same neighbors decided to pick up again and move their families to this very area in Williamson County. You can imagine what that took.
Starting over, again, together. Then came 1890, and with it the Georgetown and Granger Railroad Company, which built a line straight through Neusser's land. And you know what follows a rail line.
A general store went up. A dance hall too — and if you know anything about immigrant communities on the Texas frontier, you know a dance hall was not a luxury, it was a lifeline. The community even had to fight for its own name.
Surveyors initially tagged it Keliehor, after another area landowner. But by 1892, when a post office was established, the place was officially and formally named Neusser. The man had his town.
And then — here's the wry turn of it — the very railroad that brought Neusser to life helped end it. A depot was constructed in nearby Granger, and by the early 1900s, the community of Neusser had faded away. The railroad gave, and the railroad took.
That's the whole story, right there on this patch of Williamson County ground.
What the marker says
Moravian immigrant Johann Neusser (Jan Naizer) came to Texas in 1872 and settled in Fayette County. In 1881, he and a number of fellow immigrants moved their families to this area. The Georgetown and Granger Railroad Company built a line through Neusser's land in 1890, and soon a general store and dance hall were built near the rail line. Initially surveyed as Keliehor for another area landowner, the community officially was named Neusser in 1892 when a post office was established. The construction of a depot in nearby Granger led to the demise of Neusser by the early 1900s. (1992)