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The Bethlehem
Evangelical Lutheran Church on La
Bahia Road
Photo by John Troesser
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History in
a Pecan Shell
During the years
when Texas was a Republic, a settlement three miles north of here
was known as Hidalgo Bluffs. The original grant was to Isaac
Jackson who sold it to John G. Pitts in 1839. The town
was not named after either of these two men, but a steamboat that
plied the river in the late 1840s - when the Brazos River was (occasionally)
navigable.
Originally a plantation economy before the Civil War, newly arrived
Germans bought the land from the original settlers, as they did in
most parts of Austin,
Washington
and Fayette
Counties.
In 1860 Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded and the
church standing today was built in 1893.
William Penn was noted for wagon manufacturing in the late 19th century
and it retained a working cotton gin into the 1980s - the last one
working in Washington
County.
See
FM
390 - La Bahia Scenic Highway
A
Brief Biography of William Penn, the Man
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The Bethlehem
Evangelical Lutheran Church ca 1893
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey. October 2010
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William Penn
Road sign
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey. October 2010
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1907 postal
map showing Wm Penn in NE Washington
County
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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