Albert, Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albert, originally Martinsburg, is a ghost town 16 miles (25.7 km) southeast of Fredericksburg and 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Blanco County line in southeastern Gillespie County, Texas, United States.[1] The town was a stop on the Fredericksburg-Blanco stage route[1] and in 1967 became a stop on the President's Ranch Trail.[2]
In late October 2007, the town was put up for sale on the auction website eBay.[3] It sold in November 2007 for 3.8 million dollars.
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[edit] Early history
The area was first settled by George Cauley, Ben White, Sr., and a man named Jacobs.[1] Around 1877, blacksmith Fritz Wilke, George Maenius, and John Petri moved from Fredericksburg seeking pasture for their cattle.[1] Wilke bought land from a man named Elmeier, who was robbed and murdered years later.[1]
The Martinsburg post office operated from 1877 to 1886.[1] In 1892, Martinsburg got a new post office and a new name, after Albert Luckenbach sold his store in Luckenbach, and arrived to register a new post office in town, under the name Albert.[1]
A school was established in 1891, and in 1897 postmaster Otto Schumann opened the town's first store. In 1900 a new school building was erected where Lyndon Baines Johnson was briefly enrolled.[1] A local Lutheran mission, the Lutheran Church of Stonewall, was established in 1902 which LBJ attended.[1]
[edit] Population decline
Albert had 50 residents in 1925, only 4 in 1964, and 25 in 1972.[1] By 1985 the store had been torn down, the school converted into a community club, and the dance hall a storage locker, though Albert still had 25 residents and two businesses.[1] The population would stay at 25 through 2000,[1] but by 2007, the town had been all but abandoned.
[edit] Since 2004
In 2004, Bobby Cave, at the time an insurance broker, bought Albert—more specifically, property on Ranch Road 1623 between Stonewall and Blanco[4]— for $216,000.[5] Cave then built a tavern (in a style area locals call an icehouse) on the site of the town's former general store; after investing nearly half a million dollars[5], in 2007 he put it up for sale on eBay[4] with a reserve price of $2.5 million.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Martin Donell Kohout: Albert, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ President's Ranch Trail from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ a b White, Elizabeth (2007-10-31). Texas town for sale on eBay. Associated Press, via The Boston Globe.
- ^ a b Historic Texas Town for Sale Albert TX on eBay
- ^ a b Owner lists small Hill Country town for sale, a June 2007 article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
[edit] External links
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