Zabcikville

The Handbook of Texas places Zabcikville on Possum Creek, about thirteen miles east-southeast of Temple, where State Highway 53 meets Farm Road 437. It tells the name story differently from the plaque: Czech settlers called the place Marekville for the Marek family's store, Zabciks married into the family, and when the store changed hands the sign was altered. The hamlet counted sixty people and three businesses in 1940 and peaked at eighty residents and four businesses in 1949. It had thirty-eight people in 1990 and 2000, with the store still standing.

What the plaque says

Zabcikville JAN ZABCIK SR. (1810-1881), HIS WIFE, ANNA HRUSKA (1825-1900), AND DAUGHTERS JOHANNA AND KATERINA TRAVELED TO GALVESTON, TEXAS FROM MORAVIA IN 1856 ALONG WITH JAN'S BROTHER, MARTIN ZABCIK, AND SISTER, ANNA ZABCIK. ONCE IN TEXAS, THE ZABCIKS MADE THEIR WAY TO CAT SPRINGS IN AUSTIN COUNTY. WHILE LIVING AND WORKING IN PARTS OF AUSTIN AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES, THE ZABCIKS HAD FIVE MORE CHILDREN: JOHN (JAN JR.), ANNA, MARIE, MARTIN AND JOSEPH. IN 1886, ANNA ZABCIK AND HER HUSBAND, JAN (JOHN) KADLECEK MOVED TO BELL COUNTY, FOLLOWED BY HER BROTHER, JAN JR., AND THEIR BROTHER-IN-LAW, MARTIN STEPAN. THEY ALL PURCHASED LAND IN BELL COUNTY AS LAND OWNERSHIP WAS A DETERMINING FACTOR IN STATUS IN THE CZECH COMMUNITY. THE AREA WAS ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS KOCENDA, BUT CHANGED TO LUGOVILLE AROUND 1905 WHEN JOHN ALFRED LUGO (1875-1963) OPENED A STORE IN THE COMMUNITY. IN 1907, LUGO SOLD HIS STORE AND HOUSE TO FRANK JOSPEH MAREK SR. (1884-1961) WHO CHANGED THE NAME TO MAREKVILLE. THE NAME CHANGED A FINAL TIME IN 1923 WHEN FRANK ZABCIK PURCHASED THE STORE, SALOON, HOUSE AND LAND AND CHANGED THE NAME TO ZABCIKVILLE. FRANK ZABCIK REPLACED THE OLD STORE BUILDING WITH A NEW STUCCO-FACED STRUCTURE IN 1932 AND THE AREA AND BUSINESSES GREW. OTHER BUSINESSES INCLUDED A COTTON GIN, BLACKSMITH SHOP, AUTOMOBILE REPAIR GARAGE, GRANARY AND CAFÉ. IN ADDITION, MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WERE INVOLVED IN SOCIAL ACTIVITIES SUCH AS SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT SHOWS AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS, AND JOINED TO FORM CO-OPS. MOST OF THE ORIGINAL LAND PURCHASED BY THE ZABCIK FAMILY REMAINS IN THE HANDS OF DESCENDANTS. CITIZENS OF THE AREA CONTINUE TO FARM THE LAND AND PROVIDE SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — 11 mi
  The Santa Fe depot of 1911 in a railroad town that began in 1880 as a construction camp, now a museum with locomotives and cars parked beside the active rail yard.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 18 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.
• Mother Neff State Park — 27 mi
  A Leon River park that grew from six acres Isabella Neff left the state in her 1921 will, where Civilian Conservation Corps Company 817 built a stone tower, a pavilion and roads in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas (RVOS) — 2.3 mi
• Seaton Cemetery — 2.7 mi
• Barclay Cemetery — 3.7 mi
• Homesite of Theodore Rabroker — 4.8 mi