East Sweden, Texas, McCulloch County ghost town. (original) (raw)
East Sweden Presbyterian Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007
History in a Pecan ShellThe town had its beginnings in 1885 when three Swedes from Williamson County each purchased a half-section of land in McCulloch County. In the fall of the following year Swen L. Hurd and family made the trip and they were joined two years later by four other families.
Evidently life was good and they wrote to friends back in the old country who arrived before 1890. The town had a population of 63 in 1889. Church services were held in private residences at first and in 1890 a minister from Mason held services here once or twice per month. In 1891 the populace switched from Lutheran to Presbyterian and they received a full-time pastor. In 1892 three acres of land were donated by the three original landowners for a church, school and cemetery.
The first church building was built in 1892. In 1903 the town was bypassed by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad and nine years later the town was bypassed by the Santa Fe Railroad.
Around 1905-1906 a Swedish Methodist from Travis County organized another Swedish community west of Brady and the towns became East Sweden and West Sweden. West Sweden declined into a ghost town while East Sweden hung on. In 1916 the town was hit by a tornado which destroyed the church although it was rebuilt within four years. It wasn't the town's last disaster. The school burned in 1933 but was rebuilt the following year.
Residents raised cattle and sheep and East Sweden had not one but two dairies. Cotton farming provided a cash crop as well as oak and wheat crops. A man named Swen Hurd built the town's first cotton gin which later relocated to Salt Gap.
A monument commemorating early Swedish settlers stands in front of the former school and in 1976 a time capsule was buried nearby.
Annual Event
Residents and former residents gather each August for a homecoming.
East Sweden, Texas Landmarks
& Historical Markers
Photo Gallery
East Sweden Presbyterian Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007
East Sweden Presbyterian Church
historical marker
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2007
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