East Bernard, Texas

Everything East Bernard is known for

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D
Dujka Brothers
polka Pop: 15

Rivers & Roads in Song near East Bernard

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near East Bernard.

U.S. Route 59 3 songs Brazos River 16 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs Interstate 10 23 songs US Route 90 6 songs Interstate 45 2 songs

History of East Bernard

Magnet, TX: A Sales Pitch That Fizzled RoadyGoat

A Texas town called Magnet, and you'd swear it sits on a deposit of magnetite or iron ore, something pulling a compass needle off true. But there's no ore here. The name was a sales pitch. Promoters trying to sell land and lure settlers claimed the soil was so rich it would draw people in like a magnet. That was the whole idea: a name as advertising, a promise baked right into the map. The trouble is, the magnet didn't work. The crowds never came, and today Magnet is nearly a ghost town, a scatter of buildings in the country. So the name isn't about iron in the ground. It's about a hope that fizzled, a marketing dream that never pulled the people it promised.

14.2 mi away

Wharton, TX RoadyGoat

Wharton, Texas, sits nestled in the bottomland hardwood forests, where the Colorado River meanders through the county. It's a place where the whisper of rice fields rustling in the wind blends with the occasional bellow of an American alligator sunning itself on the riverbank. Named for brothers William and John Wharton, who helped shape early Texas, the town carries a quiet charm that belies its brushes with both fame and infamy.

14.6 mi away

Wharton, TX RoadyGoat

Wharton, Texas, carries a quiet charm, but its history is anything but silent. Long before William and John Wharton gave their name to the town in 1846, the Karankawa people knew this land, navigating the bottomland hardwood forests and the winding Colorado River. The river itself has been a constant, shaping the landscape and the lives of those who settled here, bringing both life-giving water and the threat of floods. Agriculture took root early, and even today, the rice fields are a testament to the area's enduring connection to the land. You can still see alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the waterways, a reminder of the wildness that persists alongside the cultivated fields. The town has seen its share of excitement, too. Legend says Bonnie and Clyde themselves paid a visit to the First State Bank, adding a dash of outlaw notoriety to the local lore. And while Wharton might feel a world away from big-city lights, it's close enough to Houston that the Astros' 2022 World Series win surely brought cheers here as well. Wharton is a place where small-town tranquility meets a surprisingly rich past, a blend of agriculture, wild nature, and whispers of both everyday life and extraordinary events.

14.6 mi away

Powell Point School

1869

William E. Kendall, an Anglo lawyer from Richmond, Texas, subdivided his plantation here into 100-acre farm tracts in 1869. He sold the land exclusively to Freedmen and by the 1880s a distinctly African American community named Kendleton had developed here. In 1890 local A. M. E. churches built three one-room schools to form Common School District No. 4, an all-African American district which included the original land grant of Elizabeth Powell. Tellie B. Mitchell, a Kendleton native and graduate of Wiley College (1903), returned to Kendleton and established Powell Point School in 1904 in a two-room schoolhouse. The school prospered and in 1918 graduated six students, five of whom went on to college and became educators. In 1923 Mitchell persuaded the Rosenwald Foundation to grant funds to build a new Powell Point School facility here with six classrooms, a library, and an auditorium. The school became a model institution and entry into its student body was an advantage sought by African American throughout southeast Texas. T. B. Mitchell served as school principal until 1954. Powell Point, today an elementary school, is a locally revered institution which symbolizes Kendleton's unique cultural heritage and promise for the future. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995

Historical Marker → · 4.7 mi away

K.J.T. St. Wenceslaus Society No. 40

1889

Beginning in the 1880s, Czech settlers came to this area, contributing to the development of East Bernard. To supprt Texas Czechs of the Catholic faith, residents of Bluff (Hostyn) established the Katolická Jednota Texasská, or Czech Catholic Union of Texas, in 1889. Known as the K.J.T., the group provided insurance and other member benefits. In 1905, men of East Bernard's Holy Cross Catholic parish organized a local chapter, K.J.T. St. Wenceslaus Society No. 40. Charter members were August E. Morris, R.W. Brandl, Frank Toman, John J. Vacek, Frank Polak, John Skalicky and John Slovak. By 1913, the group constructed a large hall at this site. It became a social center, with activities including conventions, bazaars and other events. The hall burned in 1939, and the members purchased Riverside Hall, built in 1925 east of town on the east bank of the San Bernard River. The large round structure had a tall central pole that helped support the circular ceiling and large roof beams. Over the next decades, Riverside Hall drew crowds to see acts that ranged from big band and polka musical acts to country and western and rock and roll performers. Thousands of people attended the klobase-kolache festivals held at the site in the late 1970s. In 1986, a fire destroyed the Riverside building. The K.J.T. built a new hall in 1987, and the group remains a social force in East Bernard, with more than 500 members. Now open to both men and women for membership, it offers insurance and clergy retirement benefits, youth activities and scholarships, and a host of other services. (2006)

Historical Marker →

East Bernard, TX

1850

East Bernard is on the west side of the San Bernard River at the intersection of State Highway 60 and U.S. Highway 90A, fifteen miles north of Wharton in northeast Wharton County. The community was originally on the east side of the river, where Jethro Spivi built the first residence around 1850; hence the name East Bernard. Settlement was slow until 1859 and the arrival of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway. A bridge was built, and the depot, Bernard Station, though originally located on the east bank of the river, was moved by 1869 to the west side, to the site of East Bernard's future Main Street. The rest of the town grew up around the railway. The first post office was established in 1866, but the community was probably not officially named East Bernard until 1874. After the Civil War the community began to grow rapidly, as new settlers arrived with British surnames. Although Joseph Habermacher operated a store and saddle shop in Bernard Station some time before 1867, the main influx of German and Slavic immigrants came after the 1880s. In the mid-1890s the farming community had a population of 150, and businesses included a steam gin, a gristmill, a telegraph office, and two general stores. The first church in East Bernard was established in 1893, when German Methodist settlers dismantled their church in Content, three miles south of Weimar, and moved it by rail to East Bernard, where it was rebuilt in 1909. Catholic and Baptist congregations started holding services in private homes around 1900; their sanctuaries were completed between 1905 and 1907. The present Catholic church, built in 1925, has stained glass windows from Czechoslovakia, mosaics from Munich, a statue of St. Anthony from Italy, and statuary carved in the German Tyrol. An Assembly of God congregation began Pentecostal services in a private home in 1970 and moved into a new building by 1978. The first school building was erected around 1888 one mile north of the depot; by 1912 a brick high school had been built in town. Around 1916 East Bernard became an independent school district, and by 1956 nearby schools in Nottawa, Muldoon, Bernard Prairie, and Lissie were consolidated with the East Bernard school. A Texas historical marker now marks the site of the original school. East Bernard has had several newspapers, the first of which, the East Bernard Tribune , began in the 1920s. In the late 1980s the town was served by a weekly paper with the same name. Riverside Hall, built in 1927 on the east bank of the river, became a popular dance pavilion, where Paul Whiteman was once featured. In the early years of the settlement pioneer merchants H. P. Stockton and John G. Leveridge had operated a banking business in the back of Leveridge's General Store; by 1907 they had organized the Union State Bank. R. B. Boettcher purchased the controlling stock in 1911. In 1960 J. R. Peace, owner of a large furniture company, helped organize a chamber of commerce, which, since East Bernard was unincorporated, performed much of the duties of a city government. The community later incorporated in 2000. In the 1980s East Bernard's economy, though centered on agriculture, also included a gas pipeline company, a major kite-manufacturer, and several research corporations. In 1988 the population of 1,500 was served by sixty-three businesses. In 1990 the population was 1,544, and in 2000 it had grown to 1,729. In 2016 the population was estimated at 2,309.

Tsha Handbook →

Krasna Settlement

1891

Krasna Settlement In 1891, Francis Smith subdivided and sold property in this area. In 1892, he gave four acres for a school and church for Czech settlers forming the community of Krasna, which means beautiful in the Czech language. That year, local families built a school, and in 1893, it became part of Orchard Common School District. By 1894, it was part of the Krasna District, which included Connersville School for African American students. Two additional schools, Moravia and Central, were later built. Flooding and storms caused a decline of the settlement, and the Catholic Church at nearby Wallis (Austin County) attracted settlers; there was never a church at Krasna. 					(2003)

Historical Marker → · 4.4 mi away

J. D. Hudgins Ranch

1882

The J. D. Hudgins Ranch was established in 1882 by Rachel Ann Northington McKenzie Hudgins and her four sons in Wharton County with main operations in Hungerford, fifty miles southwest of Houston on U.S. Highway 59, and six miles northeast of Wharton, Texas. The ranch is recognized by the Family Land Heritage as a 100-year-old family-run ranch, and it is acknowledged by the American Brahman Breeders Association as having the largest number of registered Gray Brahman cattle in the world. The J. D. Hudgins Ranch has never hired outside management and is one of the few United States ranches of its sales volume to be totally family run. After the death of Joel Hudgins in 1873, Rachel asked their son Josiah Dawson (J. D.) to take over the family interests. The family began purchasing land in Wharton County; acquiring over 10,000 acres, in addition to their other holdings. In 1897 the four brothers divided the property between themselves and operated independently. In 1908 J. D. and his wife Mollie (McKinney), formed a partnership with their four children, to be known as the J. D. Hudgins Ranch. J. D. took over ranch management and was in charge until his death in 1928, when his son, Walter J. Hudgins, directed ranch operations until his death in 1943. His son, Edgar H. Hudgins, supervised it until 1962, at which time the ranch was divided into five divisions, representing the family groups of the grandchildren of J. D. Hudgins. The ranch was still operating in 1985 under the Hudgins, Mangum, Locke, Forgason, and Koonce divisions. Originally the ranch maintained herds of slick-haired Louisiana cattle with a small amount of Brahman blood in them. In 1915 Hudgins purchased the ranch's first purebred Brahman cows from A. P. Borden; these animals were descendants of the herd brought from India by Borden in 1906. In 1933 the Hudgins Ranch purchased the gray Brahman bull Manso, a descendant of a pureblood Brazilian Brahma bred by the Sartwelle Brothers of Palacios, Texas. Manso sired 316 offspring in ten years, and today 65 percent of all the Brahman cattle registered by the American Brahman Breeders Association can trace their lineage directly back to this gentle, very beefy bull. Before Manso, Brahman cattle generally were wild, thin, and leggy. The half-circle "L" brand on the right hip of each animal is the registered J. D. Hudgins Ranch firebrand. Formerly the brand was used by J. D. Hudgins's nephew; it was chosen and bought by Hudgins because it was almost impossible for rustlers to alter. In addition to the ranch brand, each division has its own firebrand on the right forearm of each animal. In the late twentieth century the J. D. Hudgins Ranch shipped purebreds to forty-two different countries and thirty-four states in the United States. In some years up to 85 percent of all their cattle sales were shipped to foreign countries. The ranch began international sales in 1932. The National Cattleman's Association recognized J. D. Hudgins Ranch as being among the ten largest purebred (all breeds) cattle producers in the United States. The Hudgins Ranch, an original backer of the Houston Fat Stock Show, won the champion Brahman cow award at the first show in 1932 and at the fiftieth anniversary show in 1982. The cattle continued to capture awards, and by 1990 had won over 1,500 championships in exhibition rings in the U.S. and in foreign countries. The ranch was featured in Edgar H. Hudgins's book, Hudgins: Virginia to Texas , a first-place winner in the 1983 Texas Historical Commission Publication Contest. It is frequently featured in magazines like Texas Highways . The family office building, from which the operations of the ranch are currently directed, stands at the crossroads of State Highway 60 and Old U.S. Highway 59, directly across from an official Texas historical marker commemorating the ranch.

Tsha Handbook → · 8.7 mi away

Kendleton, TX

1860

Kendleton is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Farm Road 2919, fourteen miles southwest of Rosenberg in western Fort Bend County. It was once the site of a plantation belonging to William E. Kendall. In the 1860s Kendall divided the plantation into small farms, which he sold to former slaves. The community that resulted became known as Kendleton. In 1882 the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway Company laid track between Rosenberg and Victoria, passing through Kendleton. A post office was established in 1884 with Benjamin F. Williams as postmaster. In 1890 Kendleton had a general store and twenty-five residents; by 1896 it had grown to include three general stores and a Methodist and a Baptist church, which served some 2,000 people in the surrounding rural area. The census of 1900 reported 116 residents in the town itself. The Kendleton schools also served a wider population than Kendleton proper. In 1903 the community had two schools for twelve White students and three schools for 202 Black students. The population of Kendleton fell to thirty-six in 1933 but rose again to 100 by the late 1940s. It fluctuated between 150 and 200 in the 1960s and early 1970s but, after voters chose to incorporate Kendleton in 1973, rose to more than 600. In 1990 Kendleton reported 496 residents. Locals estimated that there were around 2,200 people in the town and the surrounding area, however the 2000 census still reported a population of 466.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.2 mi away

Things to Do in East Bernard

quirky 19.4 mi away
Trio of Jumping Cows

A trio of multicolored fiberglass steers mounted to look like they are leaping skyward and salvaged from the 2001 CowParade Houston charity event now rises…

Everything Near East Bernard

308 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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