Hackberry is an
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
that formerly held a distinct community in
Lavaca County,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is located along
Farm to Market Road 532 (FM 532) eleven miles northeast of Hallettsville.
Its origins began in 1846 when Ludwig Von Neuhaus came from
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
to settle in Texas. He arrived at the midway point on the train from Houston and
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
. The town was named for a grove of nearby hackberry trees. Neuhaus farmed the property for several years and in 1853 opened esteem sawmill-gristmill. He added a cotton gin several years later. The town acquired a post office in 1862. A Methodist church was built in 1861 and doubled as a school until it burnt down in 1896. Neuhaus in 1865 had a general store, which he later rebuilt in 1880 as a two-story store. The iron shutters may have been used as a protection against bandits or Indians in the area. Since the closure, the store has become a local reminder of the rich history of the area on FM 532 and been mostly ransacked by looters. Now the area is scattered with descendants of Neuhaus and other Central European immigrants. Farming mostly consists of cattle grazing and hay production.
References
Ghost towns in South Texas
{{LavacaCountyTX-geo-stub