Bleiblerville is an

unincorporated community 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 ...

in northern Austin County, Texas, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, its population was 71 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.

History

Bleiblerville was named for Robert Bleibler, a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

immigrant, who ran the general store, post office, and saloon. Bleibler opened the general store in the area in the late 1880s. The community grew rapidly with the influx of many German immigrants in the late nineteenth century, and its post office was established in 1891. The community expanded in the 1960s with the increase of

oil drilling An oil well is a drillhole boring (earth), boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produ ...

in the community, in which it had 225 residents in 1966, but has since declined to 71 in 1972 and remained at that level through 2000. Theodore Wehring operated a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

in the community in 1900. The

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

had a chapter in the community during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

that included ten black residents in its roster of 68 members. It had a population of 101 in 1904, which grew to 150 by 1925. It had four businesses in 1931. Although Bleiblerville is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, with the ZIP code of 78931.

Geography

Bleiblerville is situated on FM 2502 a distance of northwest of its intersection with State Highway 159 at Nelsonville and northwest of Bellville. From Bleiblerville northwest to the intersection of FM 2502 and Farm to Market Road 109 near Welcome is . From the center of Bleiblerville, Industry Road snakes its way to the southwest a distance of to Industry. Bleiblerville Road leaves the community heading northeast and connects with New Wehdem Road to cover the to an intersection with State Highway 36 south of Brenham. Bleiblerville addresses extend northwest along FM 2502 as far as the FM 109 intersections, but only a short distance to the southeast. The Bleiblerville postal zone extends as far as Industry Road and Begonia Lane to the southwest and Bleiblerville and West Uekert Roads to the northeast.

Education

The school in nearby Welcome is located a mile north of Bleiblerville on Farm to Market Road 2502. Today, the community is served by the Bellville Independent School District.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Austin County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas