Bernardo is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in northeastern
Colorado County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. The small community is located on
FM 949 between
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
(I-10) and
Cat Spring. The town was first settled by German immigrants in the 1840s and was on a main east-west road as early as the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. Though the community once had its own post office and school, these had long disappeared by 2013. A
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) 7.5' x 7.5' Quadrangle Map is named Bernardo.
Geography
The
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...
(GNIS) locates Bernardo at
[ which is the intersection of FM 949 and New Ulm Road. Cat Spring is northeast and the I-10 interchange is southwest on FM 949. The FM 2761 interchange at I-10 may be accessed by traveling south and east on Bernardo Road.]
History
The earliest settlers in the area were German immigrants who were part of the Adelsverein
The ''Mainzer Adelsverein at Biebrich am Rhein'' (''Verein zum Schutze Deutscher Einwanderer in Texas'', "Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas"), better known as the ''Mainzer Adelsverein'' (, "Nobility Society of Mainz"), orga ...
colonization effort of 1845. Though the immigrants were supposed to settle farther west in the Fisher–Miller Land Grant
The Fisher–Miller Land Grant was part of an early colonization effort of the Republic of Texas. Its 3,878,000 acres covered between the Llano River and Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River. Originally granted to Henry Francis Fisher and Burcha ...
, they chose to stay in a region that already had a few German settlers. Braden and Bernardo Prairie were two early names for the small settlement that sprang up. Bernardo was situated on the main highway from Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
to the interior of Texas. During the American Civil War, it became a way station for cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
being transported to Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
by wagon. The Sisters of Divine Providence
The Congregation of Divine Providence (or Sisters of Divine Providence) is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes of women which have developed from the work of the Blessed Jean-Martin Moye (1730-1793), a French Catholic priest ...
, a Catholic order, established a school at Bernardo in 1872. A post office was opened in the settlement in 1898. The school was consolidated with the Mentz Catholic school in 1911. The post office was discontinued in 1917. Through the years Bernardo remained a thinly populated community of farmers and ranchers. The school eventually merged with the Columbus Independent School District
Columbus Independent School District is a public school district based in Columbus, Texas (USA).
Columbus ISD serves the northern portion of Colorado County, including the city of Columbus and the communities of Frelsburg and Rock Island as wel ...
.volunteer fire department
A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond t ...
. From 1990 to 2000 the number of residents remained at 155.[ The former school appears to be abandoned in the 2013 satellite image.][ In 2016 a new fire station replaced the older one.][See photo.]
File:Bernardo TX Farm and Ranch Supply.jpg, Bernardo Farm & Ranch Supply store on FM 949
File:Bernardo TX New VFD.jpg, New Bernardo Volunteer Fire Department building
File:Bernardo TX Sign.jpg, Looking southwest on FM 949
References
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Unincorporated communities in Texas
Unincorporated communities in Colorado County, Texas