Pisek, Texas, Colorado County ghost town. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

(Information provided by Carolyn Heinsohn and the Fayette County Historical Commission.)

Described as a community �with indefinite boundaries,� Pisek relied on the railroad for delineation. The railroad was the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (KATY) and they operated a turntable at the site in the late 1880s. At that time it was the terminus of the Katy. Pisek was also the site of a serious train wreck (no date available).

Pisek had been located where Lone Oak now is (look for the closed grocery with the plastic 1970s 7-up sign on FM 1291). The local German and Czech farmers were served by two stores near here, but with the railroad turntable construction, residents moved to be near the facility and the stores moved with them.

Although the railroad had given the place the name of Sandy Point, the local Czechs preferred the name Pisek, which means "sand" in the Czech language.

By 1896, Pisek had its own post office as well as a cottonseed warehouse and saloon. When the Katy completed their link to Houston, the turntable was dismantled and the people returned to Lone Oak. The post office closed in 1907.

Nothing is known of how the community (now reverted to Lone Oak) fared through the 1920s or 30s, but without the economic boost from the railroad, at least one store failed and the other moved back to Lone Oak.

Today only a small railroad trestle remains to mark what had been a busy part of Colorado County.