Violet, Texas, Nueces County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Erwin Cushman and Louis Petrus acquired 1,030 acres in the area shortly after the turn of the 19th Century. Petrus bought out Cushman and hired an agent to sell land in 1908.

First known as Land or Land Siding, Texas, the community was renamed in 1913 after Violet Fister, the wife of the community's first storekeeper.

Fister's store also served as the town's post office - remaining open until 1947.

The agent promoted the area as a community of German Catholic farmers, selling the land for as little as fifty cents an acre. His ads in German-language newspapers brought results and families started arriving within a few months.

A school (that also served as a church) was built in December of 1910. In 1911 a cemetery was established on an acre of land reserved for that purpose.

St. Anthony's Church at Violet (c. 1919)

	The restored St. Anthony's church - returned to Violet TE photo, May 2003

With the building of the current church (not shown), the original St. Anthony's church was moved to Clarkwood and underwent a change of name - becoming Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Abandoned in 1972, the church prompted the forming of the Violet Historical Society whose members returned the church to Violet and restored it.

St. Anthony's Catholic Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2006

Today, while nearly 400 descendants still reside on original land from the 1908 sale, the population is officially less than 200. The largest structure in Violet is the huge grain elevators on the north side of the railroad tracks that parallel highway 44.

	The grain elevator at Violet TE photo, 2003

The Grain Elevator at Violet
TE photo, May 2003

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