Chappell Hill

Chappell Hill grew rich on the cotton plantations of the 1850s, and emancipation hit it hard. The Handbook of Texas says it severely disrupted the town's economy, and the yellow fever epidemic of 1867 killed so many that many survivors left. A Freedmen's Bureau school operated here from 1868 to 1870. Polish immigrants, mostly farmers, began arriving in the early 1870s, and the population climbed from 318 to 800 by 1878. Between 1853 and 1909 the town furnished seven state representatives, two of them African American.

What the plaque says

Chappell Hill Founded 1847. Named for Robert Chappell, an 1841 settler. Early education center, with Chappell Hill Male and Female Institute, 1852, and Soule University, 1850. Male students marched away to Civil War in 1861. C.S.A. Quartermaster Depot located here. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 14 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Star of the Republic Museum — 14 mi
  A star-shaped museum of the Republic of Texas years, 1836 to 1846, built at Washington-on-the-Brazos after a Brenham campaign and opened on March 1, 1970.
• Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site — 14 mi
  The townsite on the Brazos where delegates met in a cold, unfinished hall in March 1836 to declare Texas independent, with Independence Hall rebuilt and Anson Jones's Barrington farm worked as in 1850.
• Navasota — 20 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.

More markers nearby

• Site of Soule University for Boys — steps away
• Site of Chappell Hill College — 0.4 mi
• Cedar Creek Community — 1.3 mi
• William Jones E. Heard — 1.3 mi