Rutersville, Texas, Fayette County. (original) (raw)
Texas Military Institute
Courtesy Texas State Library & Archives
History in a Pecan Shell
Founded on La Bah�a Road, the site was surveyed as early as 1838. It was incorporated as one the Texas Republic�s first towns. Unlike most towns that sprang up due to concentrations of population, Rutersville was planned to be the host town for a Methodist Episcopalian college.
The name posthumously honored the Reverend Martin Ruter, who came up with the college concept. In 1840 the college was chartered, accepting students regardless of their personal faith on the 66 acre campus.
The town received a post office in 1846.
The school was consolidated with Galveston�s Texas Military Institute in 1856 and was no longer under Methodist administration. To accommodate the female students, Rutersville Female College was established under the same supervision as the main school.
The mass enlistment of students for active duty in the Civil War forced the school to close when the conflict began.
Rutersville later became German Lutheran community and put the vacant college buildings to use as a German-English elementary school (a public institution). But a proposed college and seminary failed to develop and the property was sold in the early 1880s.
The population reached 150 in the mid 1880s and had most essential businesses including two stores, two blacksmiths and their own doctor. The population peaked at 175 in the mid 1890s but it�s proximity to La Grange and it�s lack of a railroad prevented any hope of unbridled growth. It fell to a mere 100 for the first two decades of the 20th Century.
No one is sure of the year the post office closed it�s doors, but it was after 1930. The population increased somewhat and from the 30s through the 50s, Rutersville reported an estimate of 150 residents.
The population reached a mere 72 people in the late 60s, remaining there for the 1990 census. Rutersville no longer appears on the Official State Map of Texas.
Rutersville Today
Rutersville Cemetery
Rutersville Cemetery
TE photo, April 2010
Grave of Pvt. Otto J. Ruether
TE photo, April 2010
A porcelain portrait
TE photo, April 2010
Tombstones amid bluebonnets in Rutersville Cemetery
TE photo, January 2010
More Texas Cemeteries
Rutersville TX Historical Marker
TE photo
Rutersville
Founded in 1838 upon the recommendation of Dr. Martin Ruter (1785-1838), as a site for an institution of higher learning. Named in honor of Dr. Ruter, a pioneer Methodist missionary who entered Texas on Nov. 21, 1837 and weakened by his travels, died on May 16, 1838. Later in the year of his death, a company of ten Methodists bought a tract of Land, platted the townsite, and began to build Rutersville.
In 1840, Rutersville College was chartered by the fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas as the Republic's first Protestant college. The legislation specified the school should not be exclusively for the benefit of Methodists, and it was patronized by families of various faiths. Rutersville students were noted for their loyalty to neighbors, sometimes spending days away from class, pursuing Indians.
The Rev. Chauncey Richardson, A. M. (1802-1852), whose grave is nearby, was first president of the college. The campus was half a mile southeast of this marker.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the original inhabitants of Rutersville sold their property. It was later purchased by German immigrants, whose descendants now live here in large numbers.
Historical Marker:
Asa Hill of Rutersville
(1788? - 1844)
Born in Martin County, N.C. Married Elizabeth Barksdale in Georgia, Oct. 6, 1808. Came to Texas 1835. In army in 1836, was sent by Gen. Houston to warn people in enemy's path. Settled here 1839. In 1840, enrolled eight children in Rutersville College. With sons Jeffrey and John C.C., joined the 1842 expedition to Mier, Mex.; captured, he drew a white bean thus escaped death, but was in prison until Aug. 1843. Jeffrey was wounded, captured, likewise imprisoned. John C.C., then 14, was adopted by Gen. Santa Anna.
Asa Hill died here; was buried on Cedar Creek, off SH 159.
Back of marker:
In Memory of Jeffrey Barksdale Hill, son of Asa Hill; william Carroll Jackson Hill, son of Asa Hill; James Monroe Hill, son of asa Hill; Asa Collinsworth Hill, son of Asa Hill; John Christopher Columbus Hill, son of Asa Hill; Lucy Amanda (Hill) Jones, daughter of James Monroe Hill; Frank Webb Hill, son of James Monroe Hill; George Alfred Hill, Jr., grandson of James Monroe Hill; Thomas Lindsay Blanton, great-grandson of Asa Hill
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