The Klein Community

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Out here in Harris County, on the banks of Cypress Creek, a story takes root the way most good Texas stories do: with people willing to travel a long way for a chance at something better. German immigrants settled this stretch in 1845, carving out a farming community from the land along that creek.

That was the beginning. But the man whose name would stick to this place hadn't even left Germany yet. Adam Klein departed in 1849, and here's where the story gets interesting: he didn't come straight to Texas.

He joined the California gold rush first. Whatever fortune that adventure brought him, by 1854 he arrived here with his wife Friederika, born a Klenk, and put down roots that would outlast him considerably. The settlement took his name.

Out in these fields, farmers raised cotton, potatoes, and corn. When it came time to sell, they loaded their wagons and made the trip to Huston. Two days each way.

That is not a quick errand. That is a commitment. The center of community life came together in 1874, when Trinity Lutheran Church was organized.

The families who chartered it read like a roll call of the whole neighborhood: Bernshausen, Benfer, Brill, Kaiser, Klein, Lemm, Theiss, and Wunderlich. And not long after that charter was signed, the Klenk and Strack families joined them. For a time the settlement answered to the name Big Cypress.

That changed on September 8, 1884, when the Klein Post Office was established. The first postmaster was William N. Blackshear, who ran the postal facility right out of his general store, which is about as practical as it gets.

Rural free delivery replaced it in 1906. Now, Klein was never platted. Never incorporated.

It did not have the paperwork that towns usually lean on. What it had instead was a school district. Small schools, many of them just one room and one teacher, formed the backbone of education out here.

Then in 1928, five separate districts came together to create Rural High School District Number One. Ten years after that, in 1938, it became the Klein Independent School District. A community that started with immigrants on a creek bank, never officially put on a map, grew into a school district that still carries the name of a man who took the long way here by way of California.

That is a Texas story if I ever told one.

What the marker says

A farming community developed in this area after a group of German immigrants settled on the banks of Cypress Creek in 1845. The settlement was later named for Adam Klein, who left Germany in 1849 and joined the California gold rush before moving here with his wife Friederika (Klenk) in 1854. Farmers in this vicinity raised cotton, potatoes, and corn, and marketed their produce in Huston, a two-day trip by wagon. Center of community life was Trinity Lutheran Church, organized in 1874 by the Bernshausen, Benfer, Brill, Kaiser, Klein, Lemm, Theiss, and Wunderlich families. The Klenk and Strack families joined soon after the charter was signed. The settlement was called Big Cypress until Klein Post Office was established Sept. 8, 1884. William N. Blackshear, the first postmaster, operated the postal facility in his general store. It was replaced by rural free delivery in 1906. Although never platted or incorporated, the Klein community formed the nucleus of a school district. In 1928 five districts were consolidated to create Rural High School District Number One. Many early schools had only one room and one teacher. In 1938 the district became Klein Independent School District.