Hempstead, Texas, Waller County seat. (original) (raw)

	Hempstead water tower TE Photo

History in a Pecan Shell

The town was named after Dr. G.S.B. Hempstead from Portsmouth, Ohio. An oil painting of Doctor Hempstead is on display in the Hempstead Library.

1856: The Hempstead Town Company is formed in anticipation of the railroad's arrival.
June 1858: The town becomes the terminus for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.
November 1858: The Washington County Railroad from Hempstead to Brenham is opened
1857: post office is established
1861-1865: Hempstead was a manufacturing center and had three encampments of Confederate troops stationed in the vicinity. A prisoner of war camp was also located in Hempstead.
1866: After the war, Union troops were stationed there throughout reconstruction, much like nearby Brenham. George Armstrong Custer is stationed in Hempstead for a time.
1873: Becomes Waller County seat
1872 & 1876: Fires destroy much of the downtown section of Hempstead
1881: First public school opened
1891: First newspaper started as The Weekly News
1899: Hempstead is disincorporated
1935: Hempstead is reincorporated
Captain Alfred H. Wyly is buried in the Hempstead Cemetery.

Hempstead, Texas

Landmarks / Attractions

People

• Norris Wright Cuney by Archie P. McDonald
  Norris Wright Cuney, though born in 1846 on a plantation located near Hempstead, became a powerful figure in Texas' Republican circles...
  Cuney died in 1889, and is buried in Galveston. He was the most remarkable African American leader in Texas in the nineteenth century. more
• Custer in Texas by Clay Coppedge
  ...Gen Phil Sheridan sent Custer and a thousand or so volunteer troops to Texas in 1866 to help restore and maintain order, but Custer had his hands full maintaining order among his own troops. The conflict arose over Custer�s refusal to let the soldiers pillage and plunder the countryside to their heart�s content.
  When they arrived at Hempstead in August of 1866 ... more

	A feed store in Hempstead TE Photo

Hempstead Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 517 Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-8217
http://chamber.hempsteadtexas.org/

Book Hotel Here › Hempstead Hotels

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