Home Area of Chinese Farmers

The plaque's farm workers had predecessors on the railroad. In January 1870, the Handbook says, about 250 contract laborers from California reached the Houston and Texas Central railhead here. Mel Brown records pay of $20 a month and an end within months, as Irish crews refused to work beside them and local papers turned hostile. Most left, but in 1880 Robertson County held 72 Chinese residents, 53 percent of all in Texas, mostly sharecroppers and field hands near Calvert and Hearne. Some married African American women, and a Black Chinese community grew in Calvert.

What the plaque says

Home Area of Chinese Farmers Imported from Asia about 1874 to help in cotton fields, these exotic workers wore queues and attracted much notice. At least 24 families were brought here; many became permanent residents, respected for their good work. Over 25 ethnic groups settled in Texas-- many having preceded the Chinese. Other than American Indians, first permanent Texas settlers were cattle raisers from the Canary Islands. Other migrant groups included Cuban cigar makers and European lace makers. Given new opportunities, their descendants now are in industry, business, professions. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calvert — steps away
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 20 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Town of Calvert — steps away
• Casimir Drugstore — steps away
• Sneed Memorial Methodist Church — 0.2 mi
• First Baptist Church of Calvert — 0.3 mi