The Town of Waelder

Jacob Waelder had a career in Pennsylvania first. Born in Meisenheim in 1820, he came to the United States in 1833, founded a newspaper at Wilkes-Barre in 1841 and was admitted to the bar there in 1845. In the Mexican War he served with the First Pennsylvania Volunteers, and he was district attorney of Luzerne County until his wife's poor health brought them to San Antonio in 1852. At the Constitutional Convention of 1875 he spoke as a liberal on suffrage and amendments. He was the first president of San Antonio's Casino Club and died in Virginia in 1887.

What the plaque says

The Town of Waelder In 1876, when the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Railroad built through Gonzales County, this town was laid out to serve as a shipping point for the surrounding agricultural and ranching area. Hopkinsville, a thriving community five miles north, moved here to become the nucleus of Waelder. Because of valuable services rendered to railroad interests in the early days, the G. H. & S. A. named the new town for the company attorney, Frederick Jacob Waelder (1820-1887). Born in Germany, Waelder spent most of his life in Texas, where he was a lawyer, representative in the State Legislature (1855-1859), and briefly an officer in the Confederate Army. He was also a leader of the German - Texas colonists in numerous undertakings. The town of Waelder, which grew to be the second largest in the county by 1900, can trace the history of its populace back to the three waves of German immigrants who settled in Texas from 1831 to 1900. Highly regarded by their neighbors, German citizens were considered frugal and industrious. Joining with Latin- Americans and "old south" Anglo-Americans, the two other largest ethnic groups in Texas, they have left a distinctive mark on the culture of the state. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lockhart Courthouse Square — 26 mi
  A cotton-era courthouse town named the Barbecue Capital of Texas, built near the 1840 Plum Creek fight that followed the killing of Comanche leaders at peace talks.

More markers nearby

• Hopkinsville Lodge No. 183, A.F. & A.M. — steps away
• Leander C. Cunningham — 0.7 mi
• Site of Hopkinsville — 4.5 mi
• Mt. Eden Community — 6.4 mi