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SCHROEDER, TEXAS. Schroeder is at the intersection of Farm roads 622 and 2987,
fifteen miles from Goliad in northeastern Goliad County. German immigrants
began settling the area in the 1840s. Since supplies were available in nearby
towns, the first store was not built until 1887. This establishment-which
became a combination shoe store, grocery, and saloon by 1892-still supplied
groceries, gasoline, and hardware in 1986. A school was built in 1870, a
blacksmith shop in 1889, and a cotton gin and gristmill in 1895. The first
dance hall was constructed and opened for business in 1890. When a new school
was established in 182 residents named it Germantown School to denote their
heritage. Thereafter, the community, which received a post office in 1890, was
also Germantown.
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Itinerant clergy used the school for services until St. Luke's Lutheran Church was
organized in 1893 by Theodore Ander, the pastor from nearby Hanover (see ANDER,
TEXAS). A new church building was built in 1905 with Rev. J. Schroeder as
pastor. St Luke's Ladies Aid Society, organized in 1900, was still active in
the community in 1986, as was the Sons of Hermanqv Lodge, chartered in 1894.
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In 1918, as a result of anti-German sentiments aroused by World War I,qv the
thirty-five residents of Germantown renamed the community Schroeder, in honor
of the first townsman killed in the war, Paul Schroeder. The population
decreased to twenty-five by the 1920s. In 1925 a fire destroyed most of the
business district, although the community center and dance hall were not
damaged. Schroeder rebuilt and reported 150 residents from the 1940s until the
late 1960s, when 208 residents were listed. The post office continued until
1944. The school became Schroeder Community Center in 1950. Thereafter children
were bussed to Goliad for their education. IN 1988 Schroeder still served as a
center for a well-populated ranching and farming area and recorded an increase
in population to 350.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Goliad County Historical Commission, The History and Heritage of
Goliad County, ed. Jakie L. Pruett and Everett B. Cole (Austin: Eakin, 1983).
Craig H. Roell
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