Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 10, Number 3, June 2001 Page: 136
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Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal
river from Columbus, where the numerous farmers to its north and south brought their crops
to be delivered to markets, was relatively prosperous. The supposed medicinal powers of
Kessler's Springs, to the north of Alleyton, were at the height of their reputation. To the west
of Columbus, the relatively new town of Weimar had perhaps 800 inhabitants and some two
dozen stores of various sorts. Though it had been in existence for only a short time, Weimar
had developed so rapidly and had become so much the focus of the resources of the west
side of the county that all the older surrounding communities-Oakland and Content to the
south, Borden to the east, and Osage to the north were in sharp decline.2
By the end of 1878, Weimar had some forty business establishments. Among
the most successful were the Blue Store, operated by Leo W. Ulrich, a Jewish man who had
been in business in Weimar since 1874, and his partner, William A. Baar; the Galveston Cash
Grocery Store, principally owned and operated by William Gerhard; a general store run by
Frederick W. Boettcher, which had moved to Weimar from Content as early as 1876; an-
other grocery store run by Thomas Anderson Hill and James J. Holloway; a store run by
Joseph Buttigig; a lumber yard run by Charles M. Brasher and John Fisher; a dry goods
store owned and operated by George W. Dickey and William Ocker; another lumber yard
operated by Willis Berry McCormick; a saddle shop run by A. F. Rose, who had moved his
business to Weimar from Columbus in February 1878; and a drug store owned by George W.
Christian, a local physician. Another physician, Eugene Potthast, had just joined the Weimar
business community. On May 6, 1878, he had purchased the store of Charles Weete and
William Boeer. Before the end of the year, he had constructed a new brick building to house
it.3
2 James L. Rock and W. I. Smith, Southern and Western Texas Guide for 1878 (St. Louis: A.
H. Granger, 1878), pp. 60, 143-144, 211-213; Laura Jack Irvine, "Sketch of Colorado County,"American
Sketch Book, vol. 7, 1882, or the more convenient reprint in Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, vol. 8,
no. 1, January 1998, pp. 38-46. Though Rock and Smith report that Columbus had "a population of
nearly or quite 4,500" (p. 60) and "a population of about 4,000" (p. 211), Irvine's 1881 estimate that
Columbus contained "two thousand souls" (p. 43) and the local newspaper's own estimate of 2500 at
the beginning of 1883 (see Colorado Citizen, January 18, 1883) must be regarded as more accurate.
The same newspaper declared that Weimar had about 700 people and Oakland about 260, and charac-
terized Borden, Eagle Lake, and Osage as "villages." Though alligators were common on Eagle Lake,
they could also be found in other parts of the county. An alligator measured at 12 feet, 8 inches was
killed near Weimar in June 1880 (see Colorado Citizen, June 10, 1880). In his confession to a murder
near Eagle Lake, James Stanley mentions that a man had killed two ducks the same evening (see
Colorado Citizen, October 18, 1883). Various other accounts of hunts in the Colorado Citizen reveal
the presence of beaver (November 7, 1878 issue), eagles (April 29, 1880), wildcats (May 20, 1880), deer
(July 28, 1881, September 22, 1881), and prairie chickens (August 11, 1881).
3 Colorado Citizen, May 4, 1876, March 8, 1877, February 14, 1878, August 29, 1878, October
31, 1878, December 5, 1878, January 16, 1879, March20, 1879, May 18, 1882; Colorado County Bond
and Mortgage Records, Book K, p. 310.136
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 10, Number 3, June 2001, periodical, June 2001; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151410/m1/4/?q=%22Archuletta%2C+Susan%22: accessed May 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.